How Clarkson's Farm is attracting young people to farming

Ellie grew up in a farming family and had planned to pursue a different career, until she was drawn back to agriculture by what her college has called "the Clarkson effect".

The 17-year-old is one of a growing number of young people choosing a career in farming, with Myerscough College in Lancashire putting a rise of 30% in applications down to the impact of Jeremy Clarkson's reality show on Amazon Prime Video.

First broadcast in 2021, it has followed the broadcaster attempts to run a farm in the Cotswolds.

For Ellie, Clarkson has put agriculture "in front of everyone in the country" and inspired her to follow the same path as her parents and grandparents.

Ellie's grandparents run a dairy farm near Garstang in Lancashire and her parents keep sheep and cattle, but she had decided to take a different path.

"I was doing A-levels for a year but that didn't suit me," she said.

"So I decided to come here and get back into farming.

"Jeremy Clarkson has put agriculture in front of everyone in the country.

"He has shown why agriculture is important in Britain for food production.

"There is a lot of people want to come into agriculture now."

Fellow student Oliver is not from a farming background, but said he had been equally influenced by watching the ups and downs at Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm.

The 17-year-old said he believed the series had inspired a lot of his classmates to pursue a career in the industry.

"Interest in farming has spiked because Jeremy Clarkson is such a massive influence and isn't from a farming background himself," he said.

"It shows the side of farming that a lot of people do not see, including the harsh reality.

"It's a way of life.

"It's not for the money, it's for the life."

Course tutor David Singleton said the college had seen a rise in applications for farming courses since Clarkson's Farm first aired.

"It has had quite a big influence on student numbers," he said.

"We're finding a lot of people from outside the industry coming into agriculture and deciding to give it a go at 16 or 17.

"We've probably gone up about 30% since Clarkson's Farm [began]."

Singleton said it was not only Clarkson who had had an influence, as other programmes, such as former Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher's ITV show Fletcher's Family Farm, had helped encourage young people to consider a career in agriculture.

Some female students at Myerscough have also said they have been inspired by farming influencer Harriet Cowan, who joined the fourth series of Clarkson's show as his main sidekick.

Melina, whose parents run a farm in Bacup, said Cowan "went on there like a girl boss, nails and lashes, proving the stereotype wrong".

But, for all the media influence, there are still students at the college for whom a life in farming felt like an inevitability.

Connie said all she could remember was "going out with my dad and doing work".

"I couldn't see my future any other way," she added.

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