Sir James Dyson and Jeremy Clarkson both made their names and fortunes by tinkering around with machinery far removed from tractors, combines or telehandlers.
But the Wiltshire vacuum pioneer and the motoring journalist turned nation’s favourite petrolhead are both shedding new light on the challenges and opportunities that farmers face.
Clarkson owns a 312-acre farm in the Cotswolds village of Chadlington and his Amazon Prime TV series Clarkson’s Farm was one of the surprise television hits of 2021.
The critically-acclaimed series showed Clarkson learning the ropes of farming after his previous farm manager retired.
Although there was no shortage of playing up for the camera and the inevitable Clarkson gaffes, the show was widely praised for how it highlighted the economic realities facing farmers in Britain.
A second series is in the pipeline and eagerly awaited by viewers, who at times in 2021 inundated his Diddly Squat Farm Shop such is its popularity.
Indeed, in October Clarkson was named the NFU’s 2021 Farming Champion of the Year at the Farmers Weekly Awards.
NFU president and Wiltshire beef farmer Minette Batters said: “When it comes to recognising someone who has done their best to showcase British food and farming over the past 12 months, no-one has earned this award more than Jeremy Clarkson.
“His show has really resonated with the public, brought alive the ups and downs of our industry to a huge new audience, and transported British farming into the living rooms of families across the country.”
“His enthusiasm comes through in spades and his overwhelming and continued support for the NFU’s Back British Farming campaign makes him a very deserving winner of this prestigious award.”
Then, in November, he teamed up with the Cotswold Brew Co and launched a new beer, which became the best selling on Amazon.
Clarkson is clearly no ordinary farmer – who else after all would buy a giant Lamborghini tractor to tackle narrow West Country lanes? – and has numerous other income streams.
But the shock revelation on the programme of his land agent presenting him with a farming income statement for the year of £140 was genuinely eye-opening to the general public.
It may – alas – not have been that much of a surprise to those who’ve toiled the land for decades.
Sir James, who famously made more than 5,000 prototypes before producing his first vacuum cleaner, made a rather more substantial return from his farming activities.
He does however farm on a very different scale to Clarkson and indeed nearly anyone else in Britain.
He is one of Britain’s biggest landowners, with his holdings comprising of approximately 36,000 acres of farmland. Although his biggest farms are in Lincolnshire and Norfolk he does also own significant farms in Somerset and Gloucestershire.
In the latest accounts lodged at Companies House for his Beeswax Dyson Farming Ltd, turnover for the year to the end of December 2020 was £30.2m and he recorded a pre-tax profit of £2.2m. Those figures related to one of the wettest years on record and it is likely the next set of results will be more impressive.
In his autobiography published last year Sir James spoke of how he is seeking to bring his passion for innovation and doing things differently to the agricultural sector.
In the chapter on farming, he writes about the frustration with farmers taking on all the risk and making massive investments to grow a crop, only for middle-men and retailers to take most of the profit.
Although most of his income relates to commodity crops – he is Britain’s biggest pea grower – he is already selling West Country beef and lamb directly to the public from Dyson Farming’s website.
The herd at one of his farms near Bath – at Freshford to the south of the city – provides Taste of the West award-winning meat that is sold online, while also supplying the canteens at Dyson’s campuses at Malmesbury and nearby Hullavington.
It will come as little surprise that technology features heavily in Sir James’s vision for the future of agriculture and while no farm will ever be quite as spotless as his high-tech Wiltshire labs, he appears to have little truck with the rusting paraphernalia that is not an uncommon sight on most farms.
He said: “Farming is a visceral form of manufacturing with much to teach us. As in making anything on a large and repetitive scale, however, all the basics have to be right.
“There is no reason why a farm, its equipment, tracks, ditches and yards should be messy, muddy or untidy. We should always maintain high standards.”
Although Clarkson has undoubtedly brought the challenges farmers face to a wider audience it is likely that those within agriculture will be more closely monitoring what Sir James and his team can achieve with the technical expertise and innovation of Dyson’s engineers behind them.
Another way Sir James is shaking up farming is by publicly publishing incredibly detailed data on yields and tonnages in a Harvest Report on his website last month.
There is perhaps more than a kernel of truth in the stereotype of traditional farmers being somewhat vague about their methods and particularly their results in fear of their neighbour being seen to be a ‘better farmer’.
A dozen pages of data, graphs and charts on the budgeted versus actual tonnages of crops ranging from oats to spring barley via vining peas show that isn’t a reluctance Sir James shares.
The report said: “There was a slight element of apprehension for Harvest 2021 within the business as the challenges of Harvest 2020 remained firmly in our memories.
“Whilst it is widely accepted that the industry is never straightforward, the previous year was particularly arduous and Dyson Farming were pleased to welcome improved yields and quality across the crops as Harvest 21 progressed.
“Cereal crops overall performed well with second wheat in some cases outperforming first. Reports of low bushel weights across several varieties were attributed to the frustration of a wet harvest without any rain.”
Which just goes to show that no matter their wealth no farmer – not even one with the resources of Sir James Dyson – has yet mastered the British weather.
This article first appeared in the Western Daily Press Business Guide 2022. The Guide can be viewed at https://bit.ly/wdpbizguide2022
