Jeremy Clarkson's farm hosted the UK's biggest arable event - the atmosphere was not what I expected

I know to use the Rollrights to avoid the often gridlocked town centre of Chipping Norton if I'm heading deeper into the region.

I know to cut through Sandford St Martin rather than the Bartons when the sun's shining, as to avoid the matcha-drinking influencers and nepo babies when they all descend on Soho Farmhouse.

I know that the only set of traffic lights in Stow-on-the-Wold regularly brings the Gloucestershire town to a standstill, so best to use the Oddington villages to skirt around the problem.

All of this to say that when my usual 15-minute journey hit the two-hour mark as I sat in my car queueing to enter an agricultural event hosted at Diddly Squat, I found myself musing about the pothole-laden roadways a stone's throw from my house.

And I mused whether the the 12th century market town settlers of High Middle Ages England ever foresaw that a man with 10 million Instagram followers and who hosts an ITV quiz show would ever move in and soon clog up their highways.

But I digress. This was Cereals, the UK's flagship arable event.

Thousands upon thousands of farmers, traders, and agricultural experts all clamoured together to offer expertise, show off their latest exports, and collaborate to make sure the future of British farming is as bright as it can be, given the circumstances.

The circumstances being a Labour-shaped storm cloud doing its best to figuratively decimate any thriving crop into a quagmire.

Everyone knows about the inheritance tax debacle, and on the opening day of Cereals, it emerged that farming unions had even threatened to stop growing crops unless they received more government support.

But I digress again.

Despite the torturous day one drive in, it quickly became apparent to me why Cereals was such an integral part of any farmer's calendar.

The event itself is an arable spectacle.

Each annual festival is a whole 365 days in the making. Site prep and drilling take place all year until the big day.

And it pays off within moments of entering the grounds. Clarkson had given up an entire field just to a dozen or so companies to show off their crop plots, for instance.

Plots filled with all manner of produce had been planted and treated with all manner of fertiliser to show off what worked best for each.

I won't for one moment attempt to suggest I understood much of the science behind the array of harvests or the mosaic of roots on display, but the crowds of nodding farmers who listened intently to vendors spoke for themselves.

And we hadn't even entered the main sections. Almost a thousand vendors gathered on the former Top Gear host's farm to show off their wares.

There were combines, tractors, muck-spreaders, and an orgy of farming equipment and machinery whose names looked like someone had spilt a bag of Scrabble tiles.

And the talks were great. There was a Young Farmers Stage, a Farmers Weekly stage with live podcasts, and all manner of Q&As for farmers to hear for themselves the answers to their burning questions.

What struck me from the get-go was that, in light of the aforementioned obstacles being thrown farmers' way, was the atmosphere. A pity party would've been forgiven, but in true British farmer style, stoicism prevailed.

On the opening day of the event, you'd have been hard-pressed to find a solemn-looking face, with burly handshakes aplenty and hearty chuckles spattered across Clarkson's farm.

Day two was much of the same, albeit a tad more sodden give the weather decided to try its best to turn Diddly Squat into a slip-and-slide.

But, of course, while Cereals is first and foremost an arable event, the draw of Clarkson and co was as prevalent as ever.

One vendor even told me he was stunned to see the likes of John Deere rear its head, as it, along with other big names, tended to avoid these sorts of events. Enter Clarkson, and it's the hottest ticket in town.

Clarkson milled around the event chatting to fellow farmers, flanked inevitably by a team of Amazon babysitte... I mean, film crew members.

Sadly, it's hard to grab Clarkson for a one-to-one chat. He's Amazon's golden goose and treated as such. Plus, at 66 and after decades of junkets and press events, it's no surprise he'd rather keep himself to himself.

'Cheerful' Charlie Ireland was more 'Fearful' Charlie Ireland as I approached, scuttling away from my offer of a handshake as if the wrath of Bezos would strike him down from above if he got whiff that a journalist dared to speak their name near him.

I'd never seen such agility from a man in his 50s.

That brings me to Kaleb Cooper. In his late 20s, Cooper has become the breakout star of Clarkson's Farm. And let's be honest, Diddly Squat probably wouldn't be what it is now without him calling the shots.

And he's become a man just as comfortable in the world of agriculture as he is in showbusiness.

But one thing hasn't waned: his passion for the survival of British farming.

I spoke to Cooper on day one of Cereals, and as well as bursting with pride at the fact that the event had rolled to a farm he worked at, he revealed how he is going above and beyond to do his bit to make sure the industry he lives and breathes survives.

"I'm picking two bursary students," he told The People's Channel. "So each year I pick two students to do my bursary, which basically helps young farmers into the farming industry.

"I'm excited. I mean, I get asked all the time, 'Kaleb, is there a future in farming?' I don't know the answer to that, I really don't. But what I do know is this: we need a farmer three times a day, to, of course, feed ourselves, so therefore there's always going to be a future in it.

"And that's what this bursary is all about, helping these youngsters get into the industry, because you don't have to just go and calf cows, for example, or collect chicken eggs.

"You can go out there and be a crop specialist, a mechanic, a GPS specialist, there are so many different jobs in agriculture that you can go and do, and actually it's really enjoyable - you've just got to find the right one for you."

Cooper is a testament to himself and the farming industry as a whole. Buying his first chickens at 13 and wanting to pursue an arable career despite the number of obstacles he faced.

And now, he's given students Robyn Sherriff, 23, and Isaac Covington, 19, the chance to break into a career they both love.

But what left me really gobsmacked while walking around Cereals is that he's not alone.

Despite the challenges facing the industry, young farmers at the event beamed with pride about their work and exuded excitement about how they can help shape the future.

I remember careers day at school. There wouldn't have been a lot of people ticking the box for a job that offered unreliable pay and was wrapped in more red tape than Terry Butcher's forehead.

And yet, for every Cooper, there were dozens more in their teens or even younger, just like him at Cereals, determined to ensure that their passions have a future and they won't succumb to exterior hostilities.

Before we spoke on Wednesday, a young boy decked head to toe in Diddly Squat gear couldn't believe his luck that he'd bagged a selfie with the farming equivalent of Harry Styles.

The schoolkid couldn't have been older than 11, but he let his idol know that he hopes to follow in his footsteps.

He revealed his dad had already let him chip in with the odd job on the farm, to which Cooper quipped he should ask him for a pay rise.

For this young lad, presumably somewhat shielded from the true extent and the bleak realities farming now faces, all he knows is that there is now someone out there in Cooper living his dream.

And whether it be weather, bureaucratic nonsense, unruly livestock, or unforeseen financial hardships, for this young boy and several like him at Cereals, they seem up for the fight.

That being said, I would've been remiss for not asking more young farmers who aren't gagged by streaming service bosses what they made of the current state of affairs for those in the agricultural sector.

After all, Clarkson went on the radio earlier this month to profess that every young farmer he knows is voting for Reform UK, and that no one who owns or runs a farm has any faith in Labour anymore.

Farmer, social media influencer, and political commentator James McAlpine, 21, was among the crowd and was kind enough to share his thoughts.

"Any event like this is key for British farming at the moment," he began when asked about why he enjoyed Cereals. "I mean, Labour are taking the British farmers to war."

He went on: "I think the whole thing with Labour’s idea of the countryside is to turn it into a complete class war. Just because they live in the countryside, just because they farm, they’re going to get taxed for it.

"I think we all need to go to events like this and back British farming because British farmers are the backbone of Great Britain."

A no-holds-barred assessment, I thought. Although, to be expected from someone whose online moniker is the 'Tallest Tory'.

But McAlpine was far from alone. I spoke to young farmers Archie, Charlie, and Freddie soon after to see if they had a differing viewpoint.

All three were 21 years of age, and all three were unanimous in their point of view.

"I think Labour have given their reason why we don’t support them," Archie began. "They really haven’t benefited the farming industry in the last 18 months, so that’s why people are moving away from them.

"Not that we were ever really with them because of the past, but yeah, that’s the reason why everybody’s kind of against them more than with them."

Freddie was in agreement: "I agree. Labour have done nothing, nothing good for this country at all. Nothing good. Keir Starmer, he’s just useless."

And on Clarkson's efforts to shine a spotlight on their plight? "I think he’s highlighted the struggles and everything," Charlie said.

"Obviously, Countryfile shows all the nice bits and everything (but) I think he’s shown the true colours of farming, and how hard people do work and how much of a struggle it actually is for not a lot of money at the end of the day."

Turns out young farmers may be on the same page in more ways than one. But with Cooper as their guiding light, this younger generation of farmers seems well equipped to take the baton from their predecessors - and batter Westminster with it in the process.