TV star and farmer Jeremy Clarkson has issued a warning about this year’s harvest and said it “will be catastrophic”. It comes after the former Top Gear host, 65, said that bovine tuberculosis had been discovered at his Diddly Squat Farm the previous week. Taking to X, previously known as Twitter, on Friday, he declared: “It looks like this year’s harvest will be catastrophic.
“That should be a worry for anyone who eats food.
“If a disaster on this scale had befallen any other industry, there would be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
When a commenter suggested that such drama creates compelling television, he replied: “Yes. But most farms don’t have TV shows to keep them going.”
Questioned whether the farm could survive without supporting enterprises such as Clarkson’s pub and shop, he responded: “Not a cat in hell’s chance.”
In a separate reply, he stated: “Normal weather would help.
“It never stopped raining in 2024 and never started in 2025.”
The previous Thursday saw him reveal on X that an expectant cow had developed bovine TB at his property near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
Livestock failing TB testing, or those producing inconclusive results across two successive examinations, are designated as “reactors” and must be quarantined before slaughter.
Responding to enquiries about his recently acquired prize bull named Endgame, purchased for £5,500, he admitted: “His test was ‘inconclusive’.
“I couldn’t bear it if we lost him.”
Bovine TB is acknowledged as an illness that wreaks havoc on farming enterprises, predominantly transmitted through close quarters when cattle inhale droplets laden with Mycobacterium bovis bacteria from an infected animal.
Badgers are known carriers of the disease, and culling has been a contentious aspect of the government’s strategy to tackle the issue, drawing flak from wildlife and animal welfare advocates, including Queen’s lead guitarist Sir Brian May.
The government announced in June its decision not to extend the badger cull and affirmed its pledge to cease the practice before the forthcoming election.
Oxfordshire sits in what’s termed an “edge area” for bovine TB, acting as a transitional zone between high-risk and low-risk regions, which means herds there typically undergo biannual TB screenings.
The day-to-day challenges of running Clarkson’s farm are captured in the Prime Video series that debuted in 2021, highlighting the host of issues British farmers contend with.
Clarkson has emerged as a staunch ally of the farming community, having participated in a London demonstration opposing the government’s plan to levy inheritance tax on farmland.