S Poddar
One of the saddest incidents Jeremy Clarkson encountered on his journey from a TV star to a farmer was the tragic loss of his partner, Lisa Hogan’s, favorite horse, Bertie. Lisa Hogan’s favorite horse, Bertie, died on the farm before Christmas in 2023. Clarkson describes the sad details of how much this incident hurt both him and Lisa in his book, Diddly Squat: Home to Roost.
Describing the scene that broke his heart, Clarkson remembered finding Bertie lying on his side in a stream on their property. “Not a fun event,” he said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t a fun event, even for me, and I didn’t like it one bit,” he wrote, much of his sorrow coming from watching Lisa’s reaction. “When Lisa’s horse died, I was upset because I could see she was. And because I would have to deal with it.” The sudden death threw a shadow over the Christmas season, which could have otherwise been warm and celebratory.
Clarkson’s Amazon series, Clarkson’s Farm, brings his farming experiences into a wider audience, presenting the lighter and darker moments of his agricultural life. However, behind the scenes has not been so easy; in fact, over this past year, Clarkson went through a number of financially and emotionally demanding challenges at his limit. His desire to farm remains unbroken even though he was candid to talk about how difficult everything was, particularly the burden that would have a farm operation go bust.
Reflecting on relentless financial pressures, Clarkson opened up about his farming investments. Normally he spends approximately £40,000 in a year on seeds, fertiliser, and crop sprays. But because of inflation and the after-effect of the Ukraine war, those amounts went shooting up to £110,000 in 2023. “Of course you’ve heard this all before. Farmers moan.”. I spoke to an old boy,” he said, “and he said that in his 60 years of working the land, only two harvests were what he’d call very good. This year, though, was noticeably bad. Very bad.”. Even though he takes all the limelight from his show, reality bites hard when it comes to his income. Profits are low, and expenses are high, leaving the future far from bright. In his first year of farming, Clarkson was lucky to break even at £114. Looking toward the future, he could do nothing but lament how this small gain seems today like a luxury from other years. Another unpredictable element to farming is the weather. While always a challenge, there is nothing he can do about it after having paid the “stiff price” to start. All he could do was “hope the weather would be good. Which it wasn’t.” For Clarkson, farming is no longer the predictable world of television but a passion of ups and downs.
It has not been long since this man used to face and overcome challenges, so he has not even stopped himself from facing new ones through the world of farming.
While he is popular and financially sound because of his television show, life on the farm is a humbling journey. Every year brings new challenges, and with nature as an unpredictable business partner, Clarkson faces a future that is both hopeful and uncertain. For him and Lisa Hogan, the losses they have faced—both personal and financial—paint a stark picture of the unpredictable life they have embraced on the farm.
