Latest news with #farming
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Jeremy Clarkson's latest addition to his Diddly Squat farm has Kaleb Cooper fuming that it will put him out of a job
Jeremy Clarkson 's latest addition has left his farmhand Kaleb Cooper fuming that he could be out of a job. The journalist, 65, revealed that although he finds driverless cars to be 'pointless', there is one automated piece of machinery that has captured his attention. But his right-hand man on the Diddly Squat farm in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, isn't too happy about Clarkson's new purchase. And in his latest column, the former Top Gear revealed his new and 'extremely expensive' purchase for his sprawling 1,000-acre farm that Kaleb 'hates'. The landlord shared he had bought a brand new AgBot T2, describing it as the 'coolest machine in the world'. To his joy, instead of spending 30 hours on the back of on a cultivator preparing his land for seeds, now he can use the driveless tractor with less mistakes and boredom. The autonomous piece of farming machinery comes with a £300,000 price tag, according to Farmer's Weekly, while also boasting a 156 horsepower-diesel engine. But 26-year-old farmer and media personality, Kaleb, is less than thrilled about Clarkson's new toy. 'Kaleb hates it. He says it'll put him out of a job,' he wrote in his column for The Times. He recalled that he told Kaleb how he the machine could be used as part of his contracting business, allowing him to work several farms at once. Although he initially agreed, the 26-year-old eventually became aggravated by the AgBot once again, because he had to spread wildlife waste across the fields before the machine could get to work. 'And the simple fact is that he had to stop occasionally, to sleep for instance, and the AgBot didn't,' Clarkson added. 'He was literally being hounded by a machine that absolutely will not stop.' The broadcaster also announced he would be taking this development one step further, as his machine will attempt precision drilling alone, in a world first. Clarkson is still unsure if his plan will be successful, and will continue to be until harvest time rolls around. For now, he watches footage the AgBot from bed next to his partner Lisa, as the machine works across his fields in the darkness. The former Top Gear presenter is seen walking among pieces of farm machinery at the tractor sale in Sutton, near Ely in Cambridgeshire. His trusted farm manager Kaleb Cooper (right) was also spotted at the event The new purchase comes shortly after Jeremy sold his new Lamborghini tractor just months after making the agonising decision to buy it. The former Top Gear presenter was spotted at a farm machinery and tractor sale in Sutton, near Ely in Cambridgeshire, selling his colossal £85,000 tractor. He was seen attending the auction on Monday alongside his trusted farm manager Kaleb, as well as a large film crew. Onlookers at the event said Clarkson told fans he was selling the new tractor due to a host of electrical problems. The 65-year-old also vowed to bring his old cherished Lamborghini tractor back out of retirement - although it is unclear whether he was referring to his grey Lamborghini Trattori R8 270 DCR which he purchased for £40,000 second-hand. The move may come as a shock to fans of the hit Amazon series Clarkson's Farm, as just a few months ago Clarkson was filmed purchasing the high tech tractor and immediately falling in love with it. Episode four of the latest series sees Clarkson trying out loads of new tractors - much to the dismay of her partner Lisa Hogan. He eventually settled on a colossal £85,000 green Lamborghini tractor, boasting a 7.8-litre engine and 340 horsepower, leaving Kaleb gobsmacked.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Farming budget faces ‘death knell' if Thames Water is rescued
Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that buying out Thames Water could signal a 'death knell for farming as we know it'. The Government could be forced to step in to rescue the ailing water company, which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy despite a £3 billion bailout in February. Independent estimates suggest that public ownership of the firm, which supplies 16 million customers, could cost the taxpayer up to £2.75 billion a year. Whitehall officials are discussing which Government department would pay for the Special Administration Regime (SAR) if ministers are forced to step in. It has been suggested that Defra, which is responsible for water policy, should pay for any public ownership out of its own budget. But a £2.75 billion cost would amount to 37 per cent of the department's budget, as allocated in last week's spending review, and would be likely to lead to cuts to farming support. The Government would also have to bear the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds in fines with which Thames Water has been hit for breaching rules on waste water management and dividend payments. The cost of nationalising the company would be equivalent to the entire farming support budget, of £2.7 billion a year, and almost double the annual flood defences budget of £1.4 billion.] 'It's taxpayers who will pay the price' A City source close to the process told The Telegraph: 'With no money set aside, Defra would be forced to raid its own budgets to bail out London's ailing water company and divert funds away from farmers. 'It is no exaggeration to say that special administration for Thames Water could signal the death knell for farming as we know it in this country. Meanwhile, the Government would have to pay itself nearly a billion pounds in fines for breaking its own rules. Ultimately, it's taxpayers who will pay the price.' It comes after the Government was accused of betraying farmers by making family farms subject to inheritance tax in last year's Budget. The move sparked mass protests by farmers on tractors outside the Treasury. If the cost of bringing Thames Water into public ownership was borne by the Treasury, it would create an additional black hole for Rachel Reeves ahead of this year's Budget, at which she is expected to raise taxes. Economists estimate that there is a shortfall of around £20 billion in the public finances, which must be filled by spending cuts or tax rises because of the Government's rules, which restrict borrowing. Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, told MPs on Thursday that Thames Water remained 'financially stable' and suggested that a public bailout was not imminent. But he added: 'We have stepped up our preparations and stand ready for all eventualities... including a special administration regime, if that were to become necessary.' If Thames Water were to go bust without a public bailout, it would be likely to cause disruption to customers across London. Ministers are understood to have drawn up contingency plans on an SAR and are ready to intervene if the company looks on the brink of failure. The last significant public bailout came in November 2021, when the Government was forced to temporarily nationalise Bulb Energy. Taxpayers ultimately made a profit on selling the company to Octopus Energy, a rival firm, the following year. A Government spokesman said: 'The company remains stable and the government is closely monitoring the situation. It would be inappropriate to comment in detail on the financial matters of a private company.'
Bloomberg
5 hours ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
How One Family Farm Made American Sake Possible
The first thing one notices when driving through the plains of east-central Arkansas is how flat the land is. No hills, no slopes, no ridges. In fact, if it weren't for the sporadic patches of forest and a few manmade terraces and artificial levees, the horizon would be a straight line that seemingly goes on forever. This level terrain, along with reliable rainfall and cheap irrigation, makes the farmland ideal for the water-intensive process of growing rice — Arkansas produces more than 40% of the total US rice output, according to the USA Rice Federation. Almost all of that is and has long been American table rice. 'The kind you put gravy on,' says Chris Isbell, a fourth-generation farmer. For decades the same was true of Isbell's low-lying fields, 3,500 remote acres about 30 miles southeast of Little Rock.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- Science
- RNZ News
Stars, soil and whakapapa - 'We're just caretakers really'
rural farming about 1 hour ago This Matariki, the stars align for Mark and Susannah Guscott - award winners bringing whakapapa and astronomy together on their sixth-generation Wairarapa farm.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- General
- RNZ News
'We can grow anything here' A family's growing experiment
rural farming about 1 hour ago The McClutchie whanau explores growing different crops, with aspirations to grow Maori medicinal plants, on their family whenua in North Taranaki.
