By making Jeremy Clarkson their spokesperson, Farmers have shot themselves in the foot

[Coolasfeck]

JC openly admitted to becoming a farmer to avoid IHT. Why do farmers think having him as the figurehead will help them? Just because he’s off the telly doesn’t mean ordinary people will support him. It makes them all appear to be out of touch millionaires.

Feels like a spectacular own goal. Either that or the media is setting them up by making him the focus.

Quote from Sky News:

‘Those generous reliefs have made agriculture an attractive investment for those seeking to shelter wealth from the taxman.

Clarkson, the UK's highest profile farmer - and opponent of the government's plans - said as much when promoting his Amazon series about becoming the proprietor of Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire.

"Land is a better investment than any bank can offer. The government doesn't get any of my money when I die. And the price of the food that I grow can only go up," he told the Times.

Mr Clarkson is far from alone. Private and institutional investors, along with so-called "lifestyle" farmers funding purchases from previous careers, like the former Top Gear presenter and his Oxfordshire neighbour, the Blur bassist Alex James, now dominate agricultural land purchases.’

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/whats-the-beef-with-farmers-inheritance-tax-13256257

Who owns England?

Huge tracts of agricultural land is held in offshore companies. Almost all of the land, for miles in every direction (>19,000 acres), around here is owned by a Swedish billionaire. no one seems to raise an eyebrow. i'm pretty sure he didn't buy it because he cares about food security in the UK

Then the government needs to legislate about foreign ownership of land.
But they won't, being globalist free-marketeers.

Not relevant to the tax issue though.

Given there is an allowance for £1 million which is doubled for married couple, and a further £!m allowance for a house, if the farm is owned by a married couple it does indeed need to be very big before any IHT will be payable.

( BtW , grouse moorland is very poor in nutrients and not much else will grow there, nor do many other birds or animals find it a prosperous environment for ‘bio diversity’ . So the grouse moors are a pretty good use for that land. )

Whilst I agree with the negative thoughts on grouse shooting, you do show a complete lack of knowledge of moorland management and the effects it would have if they were no longer managed. Unfortunately grouse shooting, heather burning and the impact on moorland biodiversity, water, carbon storage from peat is pretty much essentially entwined and it's a catch 22 conundrum.

I take it you understand why light heather burns are essential, or the lack of managed moorland would result in one example a deep heather burn on peat land, which more often than not is a result of uncontrolled moorland fires. Resulting in massive impacts to our environment, water catchment and carbon impacts, for years to come?

More than happy to discuss the ecological impacts and webs of it if you want to argue otherwise.

@CurlewKate

Nor the other 19 Dukes who are major landowners- several of them significantly more substantial than Devonshire.

Apart from the Duke of Buccleuch which other dukes are more substantial than Devonshire? (Presumably you mean amount of land owned).

I believe massive estates are exempt if they are judged heritage sites.

He’s also one of these clowns along with other Refarmers, who were screaming about “eco zealots” bringing London to a standstill … but apparently ok if you are in a tractor though ..

My feeling is the same on land prices. People like Clarkson, Dyson etc have played a large role in keeping land values far in excess of their real value. I'd rather see some young farm worker being in the position to run his own place than a tax dodger.

I didn't know the climate here was suitable for growing rice.

A quick Google says it isn't, but perhaps you have some inside info?

I was impressed by him as he highlighted how hard farmers had it. He showed that yes he has an income but as he said ‘the farm itself needs an income or it’s unsustainable.’

@CurlewKate ignore my question. Funnily enough a list of dukes and their land popped up on twitter - did you see it too?

But the massive question must be, why the hell is land valued at that?

ExtraOnions · Today 17:40
He’s also one of these clowns along with other Refarmers, who were screaming about “eco zealots” bringing London to a standstill … but apparently ok if you are in a tractor though

@ExtraOnions are you going to answer my question about which grouse shoots left dead birds rotting?
Given the cost of grouse - as a pp has pointed out - I think that’s very unlikely but if you have proof then I’d like to see it.

Fully agree OP. Today we had Clarkson begging Starmer to reverse his decision. Yet weeks ago we had Clarkson famously bar Starmer from his newly opened pub as he famously can't stand the man.

But it's not straightforward at all. That's the huge issue.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/secret-photos-released-of-dozens-of-pheasants-dumped-into-a-pit-victims-of-uk-shooting-industry-10045528.html

Not forgetting this vile behaviour

https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2024/10/23/rspb-secretly-films-gamekeepers-plotting-then-killing-a-hen-harrier-on-a-grouse-moor-in-northern-england/

There are multiple instances of other species being killed, in order to keep grouse shoots going.

And .. they are paid subsidies … from our money ..for this barbarism

Luckily the weather shouod wipe them out .. stopped them draining and burning moorland

Having a media savvy person rant ? Cheap PR I would say.

Haven't read the full thread, so apologies if someone up thread has already mentioned this;
Clarkson with you love, loath or are totally indifferent to him is a journalist first and foremost. He says a vast number of things to raise an eyebrow and spark debate. When he chopped down a number of trees on his farm, he got a substantial amount of vitriol. Had he bothered to explained land management, to allow light through the canopy and reach the woodland floor to allow other funa and flora to thrive, he wouldn't have had so much vitriol aimed at him. He is deliberately provocative, I very much doubt he purchased his farm an IHT dodge.
You may not approve of shooting (I don't like it either) but if the pheasant, deer and rabbits are left unchecked they cause significant damage to a large number of out native species of flora. Of course if are ancestors hadn't removed the wolf, or introduced the rabbit or pheasant it wouldn't be an issue, but since humans have done this, it's up to us to manage it.
I completely understand the 'let nature take care of itself' which in theory is fine, but because the romans and subsequent generations of human have introduced alien species, it's not quite as simple as 'letting nature take care of it own.'.
Going back to the farming issue, I think as a society, we've become very removed from how our food is produced, whilst it's not surprising as our lives have changed so completely in the last 100years, long term it's not a good idea to destroy the hand that feeds us.

Just watching him being interviewed on the BBC and making a complete arse of himself. Not a compelling argument in sight.

Clarkson is an unwelcome distraction to the farmers I know, no one asked him to be spokesman and he is not a real farmer - he is a farm owner. Kaleb is a farmer.

Extraonions those photos are indeed shocking but they’re pheasants not grouse.

You are being totally and utterly unreasonable.

Clarkson might attend a Winter Fuel Allowance protest and he would get a lot of media attention because he is a well known TV personality. It doesn't mean he was chosen as a representative for pensioners ffs.

I take it you have simply decided all farmers are selfish rich bastards and this is your 'proof'.

I'm not even a farmer or landowner and I can use my open mind to work that one out. This country is really going to shit with attitudes like this.

Solar farms owned by the government/overseas investors - much of Wiltshire is heading that way

But Clarkson's farm is still being farmed. He's not just running it as a hobby, it's an actual working farm. I understand he bought it as a going concern, with a tenant farmer in situ, who ran it for years until he retired. Then Clarkson decided to have a go and make a telly prog, but he employs a lot of people and produces food.

He probably did buy the land as a tax-efficient wheeze, but that doesn't mean it's illegal. And the tenant farmer benefited from continuing to have a home and a livelihood until retirement.

He's raised the profile of farmers and how hard farming can be, at the whims of the weather and pests and legislation and council bureaucracy. And yes, a decent-sized farm may well be 'worth' millions on paper, but only if it's sold.

He has also set up mental health support for farmers. Suicide rates can be high given the pressures of farming, the opportunities for self harm, the likelihood of not being found and stopped. It's a tough gig.

I'm absolutely appalled at the comment upthread that land should be used for housing as it's more important than food, what the actual fuck? Sounds like an ignorant townie with no idea of what life is like for hundreds of thousands of people who don't live in cities.

Clarkson doesn't represent the average farmer.