Clarkson’s Farm: what can retail learn from it?

Storytelling is the key…

I love Clarkson’s Farm.

It has become must-see viewing in the Hardy household…

The bumbling antics of former car critic, Jeremy Clarkson, are just hilarious. And it seems he is not just entertaining people with his antics, but doing some good for Britain too…

Clarkson was previously publicly scathing of lorry and taxi drivers. So much so that he could not get a cab in London unless he wore a disguise, such was the mutual loathing. And tractor drivers were another target of his disdain, blocking up roads at low speed as he saw it.

However, in a twist of fate, now he has won wide popularity with British farmers for helping drive a surge in demand for homegrown food through a show about farming!

Around four years ago Clarkson, who was a ‘gentleman farmer’ (i.e. left the work to someone else – a bit like I am a gentleman chef, perhaps!) lost his farm tenant (who operated the farm on his behalf) and so decided to take over the day-to-day running of the farm
himself. “How hard could it be?” he quipped. And just how hard it CAN be turned into a hilarious, moving and absorbing TV series which is now in its fourth year.

And just as Clarkson’s forthright reviews cut a certain sway with car buyers, it seems that his new sphere of influence, British produce, is just as powerful.

According to Waitrose, the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm is fuelling a spike in sales of British-grown produce, as viewers rally behind UK agriculture.

With the fourth series launched just a week or so ago, Waitrose immediately reported significant sales increases across a range of local items: thick-cut British sirloin steak is up 193% year-on-year, Jersey Royal new potatoes up 89%, and red Leicester cheese up 50%.  Even Cox and Gala apples are enjoying a revival, with sales up 52% and 30% respectively. Early season British asparagus is also proving popular, up 25%. Jake Pickering, Head of Agriculture at Waitrose was quoted in the press saying “Farming shows are doing more
than just entertaining us… They’re making the public stop and think about British farming, the people behind it and the challenges they face.”

Clarkson’s Farm shows us the reality of modern farming. From bureaucratic battles with environmental regulations to the unpredictable economics of crop production, the stories resonate with us as we all fight our own, similar battles in our businesses and private
lives. So the series has had a humanising effect on the public perception of UK farmers. And the impact isn’t limited to viewers at home…

The ‘farm-to-fork’ movement is picking up pace in restaurants and online too. Chefs and food influencers, like Julius Roberts and Seb Graus, are now regularly promoting seasonal, British-sourced recipes to their audiences. Sending this message to more than a million
followers helps boost awareness and increases demand for local produce.

“People think farming is about caring for the land,” Clarkson told The Sunday Times in 2023. “But it’s mainly about filling in forms… or dealing with the soil police and the badger police.”

This mix of humour, hardship and real-world red tape has struck a chord.

Retailers are noticing a broader shift too, with customers becoming more deliberate in their choices.

Certainly, we in the Hardy household are more interested in where our food comes from now and how it was produced.

For an industry grappling with labour shortages, policy uncertainty and price volatility, Clarkson’s influence has provided a welcome morale boost. The fact that a reality TV series — anchored by a former Top Gear host — has driven real economic uplift in the agriculture sector speaks to the power of storytelling in shaping public attitudes.

And as government departments vie for budgets and ever more strenuous warnings are being given by the police about what they will and will not be able to do and the ‘stark choices’ that they will be forced to make, perhaps we should take a leaf out of Clarkson’s
book…

Instead of talking about statistics or incidents in abstract, if the industry were to start to richly embroider these stories with relatable characters, situations and outcomes, perhaps the public would become engaged, and politicians forced to rethink where they are spending our taxes.

Prioritising government spending is about just that… priorities; what you care about the most. If police spending is to be prioritised, then that is the thing we have to care about the most… and that starts with the British public. If people are to really care about
rising crime in our retail stores then similarly the public have to become engaged.

Just look what happened with the Post Office scandal…

Everyone agreed that putting right any wrong done to Post Office Managers was the right thing to do.

However, not until the STORY from a victim’s viewpoint was portrayed in detail and on TV, did the public become empathically engaged. Then government prioritised finding a resolution and acted…rapidly.

It could not afford to be seen not to.

Dan Hardy

CEO