Clarkson’s Farm’s Kaleb Cooper opens up on Jeremy leaving Diddly Squat ‘would be easier’

Jeremy Clarkson’s farm manager, Kaleb Cooper, has opened up about the difficulties he faced running Diddly Squat farm this year

Kaleb Cooper, the breakout star of Clarkson’s Farm, has candidly spoken about the challenging harvest season at Diddly Squat and hinted that sometimes Jeremy Clarkson’s presence complicates matters.

The young farmer, who gained popularity as Jeremy’s farm manager on the hit Amazon Prime series, has since expanded his horizons with a solo tour.

In anticipation of the new series, now available for viewing, Kaleb admitted to having frequent disputes with Jeremy during the demanding harvest period.

He revealed: “Jeremy and I argued quite a bit in harvest because it was so stressful for me trying to do my very best again as a contractor.”

Kaleb discussed the mental strain he faced: “It was pretty tough mentally. The problem with harvest was because I’m still young, I’m 26, I think a lot of people can doubt me sometimes. And I doubt myself sometimes because I think everyone does ask themselves if they’re going doing things right”

He also mentioned: “Jeremy really enjoys doing the harvest, but he’s a pain. Life would be easier if he wasn’t there during harvest, just because he’s a bit incompetent!”

The latest instalment of Clarkson’s Farm introduced viewers to Harriet Cowan, who filled in for Kaleb while he attended to other commitments away from the farm.

This situation required Jeremy to take on more responsibility, leading him to share that for the “first time ever”, he managed some farming tasks entirely by himself.

The Grand Tour presenter revealed: “I had to take care of the pigs on my own. I had to take care of the cows on my own, and I had to get the crops planted on my own. It was the first time I was farming without an instructor, and we all know what that’s like.

“You learn how to drive, you think, ‘Okay, I’ve got the hang of this’, but the first time you drive a car when you don’t have somebody in the seat, no matter how cocky you might be, is unnerving. It’s like that times 1000 when you’re in a tractor.

“It’s not that Kaleb sits in the tractor with me, but he’s never more than a walkie talkie away. He’s always on the farm somewhere, and he can come and help me if I get stuck.

“But when you’re doing it completely on your own and, well, things had to be redone a few times. You think you should know when you have planted an entire field and it’s taken days.”

Jeremy added: “It shouldn’t have taken days, but it did take me days. You finally get it in, and then three weeks or a month later, absolutely nothing grows out of it.

“That’s a slow-motion accident, and it’s extremely disheartening when you’ve worked your socks off and nothing grows. Nothing. Not one single thing grew out of the soil. It does cost. It’s probably £600 when you make a mistake like that, which is a lot. That, in terms of farming, was my big wake up call.”