Jeremy Clarkson angers village locals again with revolutionary farming measure: ‘Take romance out of farming!’
Jeremy Clarkson has unveiled a new approach to farming with the introduction of an autonomous tractor, sparking a mix of curiosity and concern among villagers.
the former Top Gear host HAS explained why he has chosen to lease an AgBot T2 – a state‑of‑the‑art, nine‑tonne autonomous tractor built with German engineering.
“An autonomous tractor would not make mistakes like this and it would not get bored,” he wrote in The Times. “It doesn’t need to stop for a wee and it does not need to sleep. It just goes up and down and then up and down again. For ever.”
For the television presenter and farmer, it’s a shift that saves both time and effort. He estimated that it takes roughly 30 hours to prepare and plant the farm’s 200 acres.
“Even though I’ve now had five years of practice, I’m still not very good at it. I miss bits. I cock up turns and corners. I hit gateposts and most years I bounce along for hours not realising that the hopper is empty and I’m busy planting nothing at all,” he said.
He explained the AgBot eliminates such errors. Its precision allows it to position itself within 2.5cm of its target, making it more accurate than any human operator.
Its design is a 156‑horsepower engine that drives a generator powering the tracks, which also means it can turn in its own length, making it highly manoeuvrable.
While some locals have expressed concern that the machine removes the “romance” of traditional farming, Clarkson is pragmatic.
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“It does, in the same way that back in the 1920s the tractor took out some of the horse-based romance,” he said. “The fact is this: we all still want a red phone box in the village. Even though an iPhone is more convenient, doesn’t smell of urine and rarely has a tramp sleeping in it. You’ve got to move on.”
This new chapter is not just about efficiency, Clarkson said, but about making farming more precise.
The farm has been mapped by a Dutch expert named Jacob, producing a highly detailed picture of every inch of soil.
The AgBot can now adjust its planting patterns accordingly, putting more seed where the ground is rich and avoiding areas that are thin or degraded.
“Has it worked? Will it work?” Clarkson wondered, “We aren’t going to know until the harvest and, even then, it’s impossible to be sure because if we get a good yield, that might be down to some other factor like the weather. It’ll probably be ten years before we really know, and by then Rachel Reeves will be the new owner of Diddly Squat and it’ll be full of houses and wind turbines.”
For Clarkson, this approach represents a significant shift in the way farms operate, with the farmer adding this is the first time he will be able to see “through the surface of the earth and reacting accordingly.”
As for the future? Clarkson remains optimistic.
“Every night for the past week I’ve climbed into bed and made Lisa watch a feed from the AgBot’s cameras as he trundles along in the darkness. She thinks I’ve become a bore and wonders sleepily why I can’t watch Pornhub like a normal person. But to be in bed while you’re tractoring does make me all warm and fuzzy.
“And later this week I’m going to finish off all my drilling, more accurately than ever before, while quaffing champagne at the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In short, this tech has bought me some of my old life back.”