Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has met with some of the stars of the popular Amazon Prime TV series Clarkson’s Farm.
Kaleb Cooper and farm advisor Charlie Ireland were at 10 Downing Street today (Tuesday, May 16) to contribute to the first-ever UK Farm to Fork Summit.
The purpose of the summit is to bring together representatives from the whole food supply chain to identify ways to boost growth, drive innovation and improve sustainability in the food system.
Cooper, who is 24 years old, spoke with Sunak on behalf of young farmers. According to a social media post by the Prime Minister, the pair discussed ways to get more young people into farming.
“It doesn’t matter how young you are, there’s a role for you in farming. Anyone can do it,” he said on Instagram.
Cooper said he is “honoured to be speaking on behalf of young farmers everywhere”.
Farm to Fork Summit
Today’s summit saw representation from 70 businesses, experts and representative organisations from farming, production, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and hospitality.
In his opening remarks to the summit, the Prime Minister paid reference to the troubles showcased as part of the Clarkson’s Farm series.
Touching on the topic of planning permission, he said:
“We want to give British farmers greater freedoms to make the best use of their existing buildings, whether that’s for a Diddly Squat-style farm shop or a processing facility.
“So we’re going to consult on targeted changes to the planning system that enable exactly that and support our rural economy.”
Diddly Squat is the name of TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s on-farm farm shop, which fans of the show would be familiar with.
Throughout season two of the programme, Clarkson showcased parts of his planning permission battle with the local council as he wanted to take the shop one step further and turn it into a restaurant.
