Clarkson’s Farm star Kaleb Cooper has called on British shoppers to buy more locally-produced food, arguing that consumers are largely unbothered by the price of milk.
Cooper made the remarks at the pre-match launch of the first television advert for Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone beer brand, speaking candidly about the pressures facing UK farmers.
He argued that supermarket supply chains systematically disadvantage producers, with middlemen absorbing profits that should flow directly to the people growing and rearing food.
“You can sell your produce to a supermarket and there’s a middle [man] taking a slice of the profit, so therefore, unfortunately who takes the hit? It’s always the farmers,” Cooper said.
He suggested that consumers would barely notice a modest price increase on milk if it meant farmers received a fairer return for their labour and investment.
“Everybody walks into that supermarket or local shop and grabs that pint of milk because actually they don’t care [about] the price of it… actually if they paid the farmer 10p per litre more, and it actually goes to the farmer, would the general public know? No,” he said.
“I’ll tell you who would know, the farmer, and they’d be very, very grateful for it,” Cooper added, underlining the financial strain that many British dairy farmers currently face.
His comments come as Office for National Statistics figures showed inflation stood at 2.8 per cent in the twelve months to May, with food and non-alcoholic drink prices rising 2.2 per cent, a slowdown from the 3 per cent recorded in April.
Milk prices were among the fastest-growing food categories, rising 7.2 per cent over the past year, though Cooper’s point is that farmers themselves are not necessarily the ones benefiting from that increase.
Cooper also threw his support behind farming co-operatives, describing them as essential to the long-term survival of British agriculture and arguing they give producers more control over pricing.
“I think you could ask every single one of the people that are in the co-operative and they would be very grateful to be in it because they’re selling their produce at a great price,” he said.
Beyond the economics, Cooper pointed to a more personal motivation for backing co-operatives, highlighting that farmers rarely get to enjoy the fruits of their own labour when selling through wholesalers.
“When a farmer sells their produce to a wholesaler, they never get a chance to eat it,” he said, describing the disconnect between production and enjoyment as a deeply frustrating reality for many in the industry.
He expressed pride in being able to trace food directly back to his own fields, saying: “I want to enjoy the stuff I’ve actually grown myself, if I go to the Farmer’s Dog and have a roast dinner I’ll know that I’ve grown the potatoes there.”
Cooper also reflected on why farmers continue doing such physically demanding work despite the financial and personal pressures, offering a characteristically direct answer about the nature of the profession.
“The reason farmers do what they do is because it’s a way of life. It’s not a job,” he said, capturing a sentiment shared by many across the British agricultural community.