August 4, 2025 • 5 mins
Part 2: We continue from yesterday’s interview as we discuss TB on Diddly Squat farm and the end of the UK drought.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yesterday we didn't get to play all the farmer torment
of you. Here's part two. We started talking about TV
on Jeremy Clarkson's Didley Squat farm. Jeremy Clarkson, Clarkson's farm
Didley Squat has gone down with TB, and you're saying
that this essentially could be a good thing. The amount
of exposure the TB and things like your bedger Cull
(00:21):
are going to get out of this will be huge,
and Jeremy Clarkson is in a position to sway public opinion.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean it's never good to see. And
I've got lots of friends whose farms have gone down
with TV and it's always a tremendously pressured, emotional, difficult time.
You know, there are bloodlines that have been in many
cases established for generations and beloved cows you know named
who you know, they see them every day, they know
(00:51):
their character and personality, who are cold because of a
possible or an inconclusive test. So they might have you know,
they might have TV. But it's always a hard time.
And I feel for Clarkson, But what he's great at
is showing his emotions, showing that he loves farming, and
(01:11):
he absolutely does, There's no doubt about it. I would
back him absolutely the hell. He is a farmer through
and through, he's one of us, and it will be
for the cause of dealing with TV. It'll be a
great thing because now not only is everyone across the UK,
but people around the world are aware of this. I
don't know. Maybe just does Trump watch Clarkson's farm. I
(01:33):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Maybe well, I think he watches quite a bit a
reality TV while he's drinking his star At cokes and
eating McDonald's hamburgers. Talking about the McDonald's hamburger, says I
said earlier, we've got a fifteen percent tariff. You guys
have only got a ten percent terrorf So obviously Saki
has done something that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, we're you know, I wonder equally if we're being played.
I mean, his his big target is the is the EU.
And yeah, so whether whether we're we're just being given
a slightly slightly better tariff for as part of a
bargaining chip there, or whether it's just completely random. Uh,
(02:15):
I don't know. For for for for UK farming, I'm
not quite sure what what significant effect it will have
a lot of our big brands do export into the US,
but it's not a really it's not really a mass
market for US. It's not. It's not a huge, huge,
significant market. It's very difficult for for targeted industries. For
(02:37):
That's why John Swinney the first minute of Scotland was
in with him with Trump, because of course it's very
difficult for salmon, very different for Scott's whiskey, causing challenges
in some areas. So shortbread, brisket, biscuits and things like
that are are tea is something that we export into
the kind of more luxury end of the of the
U S market. But I would say for the for
(02:58):
the for the broad UK agricultural market, the US isn't
isn't a huge destination for us.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
The drought it has ended. I told you Wimbledon would
sort it out.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
You promised and you delivered. As ever, Javi, you're the
oracle and I really appreciate that. Yeah, across much of
the UK we have now had rain. We've now had
a lot of rain in some cases, but it was
a drought that was deep enough and long enough that
a lot of people have had their harvest severely affected.
That said, up in the north of England. Up in Scotland,
(03:34):
there's been some fantastic silage, the wonderful hay made up there,
and yet two or three hundred miles away people are
making half the silage, half the hay, maybe even less
than that then they typically been making. And we're seeing
big differences across the UK in terms of soil types.
So the lighter soils the crops have been dying off
in the drought, the heavier soils that we often cursed,
(03:56):
as we you know, sometimes do on our farm, but
our heavier soils have held out and we are two
thirds of the way through a pretty average harvest, which
frankly i'd just snapped your hand off, or if you'd
offered me a month ago.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I see the call has come for UK farmers to
take climate change seriously, because the Met Office is issued
a stark warning that the UK is now experiencing a
notably different climate than it did just a few decades ago,
a shift or riving already having a visible impact on farming. Tom,
I don't know how long you've been on the family
(04:29):
farm for, but are you seeing that notable shift?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Absolutely? And there are people all over are who are
who are skeptical, but there is no doubt that our
weather systems are changing and that means more extreme weather.
It doesn't necessarily and we're certainly getting hot to some
of them. We're we're seeing that significantly. But you know,
we get a cold patch in the winter and everyone
says our global warming is a load of nonsense, but
(04:55):
we're getting more extreme weather. So we are getting some
colder weather, we're getting some weather weather, we're getting long
periods of dry time. And the UK climate we're like
you guys, we're a maritime climate. We are used to
and we're built on relatively mild weather, relatively frequent rain,
and we've seen that's caused huge, huge issues for our wildlife,
(05:18):
for food production in the last few months with the drought.
But we you know, we had a tremendously wet sewing
time back in September and as I look at some
of my yield maps from the combine, we've been less
affective by the drought. They're more affected by the wet
in the winter. So you know, we're getting we're getting
extreams of wet and dry, hot and cold more than
(05:38):
we would have previously in the one year. So We're
absolutely at the you know, the cold face when it
comes to comes to climate change, in climate variability.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
All right, Tom, we'll let you go to be and
thanks for your time.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Everybody,
Yesterday we didn't get to play all the farmer torment
of you. Here's part two. We started talking about TV
on Jeremy Clarkson's Didley Squat farm. Jeremy Clarkson, Clarkson's farm
Didley Squat has gone down with TB, and you're saying
that this essentially could be a good thing. The amount
of exposure the TB and things like your bedger Cull
(00:21):
are going to get out of this will be huge,
and Jeremy Clarkson is in a position to sway public opinion.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean it's never good to see. And
I've got lots of friends whose farms have gone down
with TV and it's always a tremendously pressured, emotional, difficult time.
You know, there are bloodlines that have been in many
cases established for generations and beloved cows you know named
who you know, they see them every day, they know
(00:51):
their character and personality, who are cold because of a
possible or an inconclusive test. So they might have you know,
they might have TV. But it's always a hard time.
And I feel for Clarkson, But what he's great at
is showing his emotions, showing that he loves farming, and
(01:11):
he absolutely does, There's no doubt about it. I would
back him absolutely the hell. He is a farmer through
and through, he's one of us, and it will be
for the cause of dealing with TV. It'll be a
great thing because now not only is everyone across the UK,
but people around the world are aware of this. I
don't know. Maybe just does Trump watch Clarkson's farm. I
(01:33):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Maybe well, I think he watches quite a bit a
reality TV while he's drinking his star At cokes and
eating McDonald's hamburgers. Talking about the McDonald's hamburger, says I
said earlier, we've got a fifteen percent tariff. You guys
have only got a ten percent terrorf So obviously Saki
has done something that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, we're you know, I wonder equally if we're being played.
I mean, his his big target is the is the EU.
And yeah, so whether whether we're we're just being given
a slightly slightly better tariff for as part of a
bargaining chip there, or whether it's just completely random. Uh,
(02:15):
I don't know. For for for for UK farming, I'm
not quite sure what what significant effect it will have
a lot of our big brands do export into the US,
but it's not a really it's not really a mass
market for US. It's not. It's not a huge, huge,
significant market. It's very difficult for for targeted industries. For
(02:37):
That's why John Swinney the first minute of Scotland was
in with him with Trump, because of course it's very
difficult for salmon, very different for Scott's whiskey, causing challenges
in some areas. So shortbread, brisket, biscuits and things like
that are are tea is something that we export into
the kind of more luxury end of the of the
U S market. But I would say for the for
(02:58):
the for the broad UK agricultural market, the US isn't
isn't a huge destination for us.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
The drought it has ended. I told you Wimbledon would
sort it out.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
You promised and you delivered. As ever, Javi, you're the
oracle and I really appreciate that. Yeah, across much of
the UK we have now had rain. We've now had
a lot of rain in some cases, but it was
a drought that was deep enough and long enough that
a lot of people have had their harvest severely affected.
That said, up in the north of England. Up in Scotland,
(03:34):
there's been some fantastic silage, the wonderful hay made up there,
and yet two or three hundred miles away people are
making half the silage, half the hay, maybe even less
than that then they typically been making. And we're seeing
big differences across the UK in terms of soil types.
So the lighter soils the crops have been dying off
in the drought, the heavier soils that we often cursed,
(03:56):
as we you know, sometimes do on our farm, but
our heavier soils have held out and we are two
thirds of the way through a pretty average harvest, which
frankly i'd just snapped your hand off, or if you'd
offered me a month ago.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I see the call has come for UK farmers to
take climate change seriously, because the Met Office is issued
a stark warning that the UK is now experiencing a
notably different climate than it did just a few decades ago,
a shift or riving already having a visible impact on farming. Tom,
I don't know how long you've been on the family
(04:29):
farm for, but are you seeing that notable shift?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Absolutely? And there are people all over are who are
who are skeptical, but there is no doubt that our
weather systems are changing and that means more extreme weather.
It doesn't necessarily and we're certainly getting hot to some
of them. We're we're seeing that significantly. But you know,
we get a cold patch in the winter and everyone
says our global warming is a load of nonsense, but
(04:55):
we're getting more extreme weather. So we are getting some
colder weather, we're getting some weather weather, we're getting long
periods of dry time. And the UK climate we're like
you guys, we're a maritime climate. We are used to
and we're built on relatively mild weather, relatively frequent rain,
and we've seen that's caused huge, huge issues for our wildlife,
(05:18):
for food production in the last few months with the drought.
But we you know, we had a tremendously wet sewing
time back in September and as I look at some
of my yield maps from the combine, we've been less
affective by the drought. They're more affected by the wet
in the winter. So you know, we're getting we're getting
extreams of wet and dry, hot and cold more than
(05:38):
we would have previously in the one year. So We're
absolutely at the you know, the cold face when it
comes to comes to climate change, in climate variability.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
All right, Tom, we'll let you go to be and
thanks for your time.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Everybody,
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