Does Farming in China Have as Many Pitfalls as Clarkson’s Farm? | Food Talk Vol.15
In 2021, the first season of Clarkson’s Farm – a reality documentary about a cantankerous old farmer taking to the fields for the world to watch – scored an impressive 9.6 on Douban. On 10 February this year, Season 2 is set to air.
Jeremy Clarkson, the well-heeled old boy who once fronted the world’s most-watched car entertainment show Top Gear – why has going back to the land been one setback after another? Why are ploughing with a Lamborghini tractor or herding sheep with drones not such brilliant ideas? After 365 days of grafting like mad, why is the annual net profit just £144?
In this episode, Foodthink’s live-commentary crew will zip through Season 1 and chat with you about how far the life on screen differs from real farming – and from the agricultural landscape here in China. Let’s take a look at the pitfalls that await a city person who heads to the countryside to farm: just how different are they in China versus the UK?
This Episode’s Hosts
Tianle
Founding editor of Foodthink and convener of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. Feels that every farmer friend they know is more fun than anyone on a variety show or a stand-up set. Has two expectations for farming-themed films and TV: be real, or be entertaining. No dietary restrictions – only allergic to foodporn.
Wang Hao
Foodthink editor. When Season 1 first aired, they were a complete newbie; by Season 2, they’re already waffling away into the microphone.
Xiaojing
One of the hosts of Food Talk. Other farming documentaries might make you want to quit your job, sit down to a proper meal, or become who you truly are in the fields. Watching Clarkson’s Farm just makes you want to laugh.
To discover more food- and farming-related films on our radar, follow Foodthink’s watchlist on Douban.
Timeline
06:29 Clarkson’s first farming blunder: the moment he got back to the land, he bought a Lamborghini tractor. Where did the car expert go wrong?
08:04 Fun fact: the wildly “transformed” Lamborghini actually started out making tractors?
09:17 Young people in the countryside: Kaleb, the farming expert who has no desire to be a city slicker but reads the weather, knows his machinery, and can even code – a thoroughly modern, all-round farmer.
11:04 Why is the social status of farmers in China so low? How could this situation ever change?
19:44 Why do Chinese food- and farming-related films and TV programmes always seem to have a filter over them? Have food documentaries like A Bite of China domesticated Chinese audiences’ tastes?
21:59 Beyond “man-made disasters”, there are “natural disasters” too – Clarkson’s farm has been hit by extreme weather. Once a car review presenter, now a farmer affected by climate change, Clarkson still scoffs at his neighbours’ “climate change talk”.
26:27 Season 2 of Clarkson’s Farm is just around the corner – what “new plans” will Clarkson cook up this time?
26:40 Besides Clarkson’s Farm, what other farming- and food-related films and TV programmes does Foodthink recommend?
27:59 How to farm without falling into the same traps? Join Foodthink’s Ecological Agriculture Intern programme, aka the “Kaleb Development Plan” – sending young people to experienced farms for internships so they can learn from seasoned farmers, reduce the cost of trial and error, and pick up the ways of farming more quickly. Applications close on 17 February!
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Podcast production team
Planning and production: Xiaojing
Podcast cover art: Wan Lin
Music: Banong
Article editing: Wang Hao
Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn