Farm

As the crucial summer harvest season gets underway in California’s vast agricultural regions, farmers and their workers say they feel whiplashed by a series of contradictory signals about how the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration might affect them.

California grows more than one-third of the country’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts in the fertile expanses of the Central Valley, Central Coast and other farming regions. The industry produced nearly $60 billion in goods in 2023, according to state figures — an output that depends heavily on the skilled labor of a workforce that is at least 50% undocumented, according to University of California studies.

Without workers, the juicy beefsteak tomatoes that are ripening and must be hand-harvested will rot on the vines. The yellow peaches just reaching that delicate blend of sweet and tart will fall to the ground, unpicked. Same with the melons, grapes and cherries.

That’s why, when federal immigration agents rolled into the berry fields of Oxnard last week and detained 40 farmworkers, growers up and down the state grew worried along with their workers.

Farm laborers, many of whom have lived and worked in their communities for decades, were terrified of being rounded up and deported, separated from their families and livelihoods. Farmers worried that their workforce would vanish — either locked up in detention centers or forced into the shadows for fear of arrest — just as their labor was needed most. Everyone wanted to know whether the raids in Oxnard were the beginning of a broader statewide crackdown that would radically disrupt the harvest season — which is also the period when most farmworkers earn the most money — or just a one-off enforcement action.

In the ensuing days, the answers have become no clearer, according to farmers, worker advocates and elected officials.

“We, as the California agricultural community, are trying to figure out what’s going on,” said Ryan Jacobsen, chief executive of the Fresno County Farm Bureau and a farmer of almonds and grapes. He added that “time is of the essence,” because farms and orchards are “coming right into our busiest time.”

After the raids in Ventura County last week, growers across the country began urgently lobbying the Trump administration, arguing that enforcement action on farm operations could hamper food production. They pointed to the fields around Oxnard post-raid, where, according to the Ventura County Farm Bureau, as many as 45% of the workers stayed home in subsequent days.

President Trump appeared to get the message. On Thursday, he posted on Truth Social that “our great farmers,” along with leaders in the hospitality industry, had complained that his immigration policies were “taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.”

He added that it was “not good” and “changes are coming!”

The same day, according to a New York Times report, a senior official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote regional ICE directors telling them to lay off farms, along with restaurants and hotels.

“Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,” the official wrote.

Many in California agriculture took heart.

Then on Monday came news that the directive to stay off farms, hotels and restaurants had been reversed.

“There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said, according to the Washington Post. “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.”

In California’s heartland, Jacobsen of the Fresno County Farm Bureau spoke for many farmers when he said: “We don’t have a clue right now.”

Asked Tuesday to clarify the administration’s policy on immigration raids in farmland, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration is committed to “enforcing federal immigration law.”

“While the President is focused on immediately removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens from the country,” Jackson said, “anyone who is here illegally is liable to be deported.”

Still, Jacobsen and others noted, aside from the upheaval in Ventura County last week, agricultural operations in other parts of the state have largely been spared from mass immigration sweeps.

Workers, meanwhile, have continued to show up for work, and most have even returned to the fields in Ventura County.

There has been one notable outcome of last week’s raids, according to several people interviewed: Employers are reaching out to workers’ rights organizations, seeking guidance on how to keep their workers safe.

“Some employers are trying to take steps to protect their employees, as best they can,” said Armando Elenes, secretary treasurer of the United Farm Workers.

He said his organization and others have been training employers on how to respond if immigration agents show up at their farms or packinghouses. A core message, he said: Don’t allow agents on the property if they don’t have a signed warrant.

Indeed, many of the growers whose properties were raided in Ventura County appear to have understood that; advocates reported that federal agents were turned away from a number of farms because they did not have a warrant.

In Ventura County, Lucas Zucker, co-executive director of the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, a group that has often been at odds with growers over issues such as worker pay and protections, underscored the unusual alliance that has forged between farmers and worker advocates.

Two days after the raids, Zucker read a statement condemning the immigration sweeps on behalf of Maureen McGuire, chief executive of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, an organization that represents growers.

“Farmers care deeply about their workers, not as abstract labor, but as human beings and valued community members who deserve dignity, safety and respect,” McGuire said in the statement. “Ventura County agriculture depends on them. California’s economy depends on them. America’s food system depends on them.”

Before reading the statement, Zucker evoked light laughter when he told the crowd: “For those of you familiar [with] Ventura County, you might be surprised to see CAUSE reading a statement from the farm bureau. We clash on many issues, but this is something where we’re united and where we’re literally speaking with one voice.”

“The agriculture industry and farmworkers are both under attack, with federal agencies showing up at the door,” Zucker said later. “Nothing brings people together like a common enemy.”

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels after the president expressed alarm about the impact of his aggressive enforcement, an official said Saturday.

The move marks a remarkable turnabout in Trump’s immigration crackdown since he took office in January. It follows weeks of increased enforcement since Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump’s second term.

Tatum King, an official with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, wrote regional leaders on Thursday to halt investigations of the agricultural industry, including meatpackers, restaurants and hotels, according to the New York Times.

A U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to the Associated Press the contents of the directive. The Homeland Security Department did not dispute it.

“We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets,” Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, said when asked to confirm the directive.

The shift suggests Trump’s promise of mass deportations has limits if it threatens industries that rely on workers in the country illegally. Trump posted on his Truth Social site Thursday that he disapproved of how farmers and hotels were being affected.

“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” he wrote. “In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

While ICE’s presence in Los Angeles has captured public attention and prompted Trump to deploy the California National Guard and Marines, immigration authorities have also been a growing presence at farms and factories across the country.

Farm bureaus in California say raids at packinghouses and fields are threatening businesses that supply much of the country’s food. Dozens of farmworkers were arrested after uniformed agents fanned out on farms northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County, which is known for growing strawberries, lemons and avocados. Others are skipping work as fear spreads.

ICE made more than 70 arrests Tuesday at a food packaging company in Omaha. The owner of Glenn Valley Foods said the company was enrolled in a voluntary program to verify workers’ immigration status and that it was operating at 30% capacity as it scrambled to find replacements.

Tom Homan, the White House border advisor, has repeatedly said ICE will send officers into communities and workplaces, particularly in “sanctuary” jurisdictions that limit the agency’s access to local jails.

Sanctuary cities “will get exactly what they don’t want, more officers in the communities and more officers at the work sites,” Homan said Monday on Fox News Channel. “We can’t arrest them in the jail, we’ll arrest them in the community. If we can’t arrest them in the community, we’re going to increase work-site enforcement operation. We’re going to flood the zone.”

Madhani and Spagat write for the Associated Press.

Jeremy Clarkson’s Clarkson’s Farm has come to an end and fans are now searching for something to fill the void.

After eight gripping episodes, Clarkson’s Farm season four has wrapped up, showcasing Jeremy Clarkson’s tumultuous journey as he endeavoured to launch his pub, The Farmer’s Dog.

The popular Prime Video series is set to conclude after its fifth season, with Jeremy announcing the end of the show, citing the cast and crew’s fatigue from the intense filming schedule.

As fans await season five, they’re on the lookout for similar entertainment to fill the gap, with Vinnie Jones in the Country emerging as a top pick.

Available on Discovery Plus, the series follows the adventures of actor and ex-footballer Vinnie Jones as he tackles 2,000 acres of West Sussex countryside, embarking on overly ambitious farming projects.

The show debuted in November 2023 and has already delighted viewers with two seasons, reports Gloucestershire Live.

Fans have confessed to binge-watching the series, with Nik Anderson commenting: “Hi Vinnie, I was a bit unsure of what I was going to experience watching your life in the country series. I was expecting ‘Oh crash bang wallop alright geezer?'”.

Anderson continued, expressing his unexpected captivation: “To my surprise and my sheer ignorance I was hooked in minutes! There was so many things I took from your series and try implement them into my life!

“I too have had tragic experiences and trauma in my life as most of us have, but some of us more than others. You deal with things admirably.”

Jan Casper also shared her enthusiasm on Google Reviews: “Thoroughly enjoyed watching all the episodes, binge watched over Christmas.

“Vinnie is a man who appreciates nature and conservation of his beautiful farm buildings and his surroundings. You can see his vision is genuine and from the heart.

“It has been lovely to see that everyone who works with him has that passion too. Can’t wait for season three.”

The series touches on some tough topics, especially after the loss of Vinnie’s wife Tanya in 2019 due to a prolonged illness.

Vinnie has opened up about how both he and his late wife were diagnosed with skin cancer.

Prime Video has given the series a glowing four out of five stars, while it boasts an impressive IMDb rating of 7.9.

In its first season, audiences watched as Vinnie and his kin constructed, connected, and quipped their way through life, all while eyeing the future prospects of their estate.

Viewers witnessed them introducing new conservation approaches, reviving species, and creating habitats to entice novel wildlife.

OXNARD, Calif. — At 6 a.m. Wednesday, Juvenal Solano drove slowly along the cracked roads that border the fields of strawberry and celery that cloak this fertile expanse of Ventura County, his eyes peeled for signs of trouble.

An eerie silence hung over the morning. The workers who would typically be shuffling up and down the strawberry rows were largely absent. The entry gates to many area farms were shut and locked.

Still, Solano, a director with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, felt relieved. Silence was better than the chaos that had broken out Tuesday when immigration agents raided fields in Oxnard and fanned out across communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that grow a considerable portion of the state’s strawberries, avocados and celery.

The organization, part of a broader rapid-response network that offers support and counsel for workers targeted by immigration raids, was caught off guard when calls started pouring in from residents reporting federal agents gathering near fields. Group leaders say they have confirmed at least 35 people were detained in the raids, and are still trying to pin down exact numbers.

In the past week, Solano said, the organization had gotten scattered reports of immigration authorities arresting undocumented residents. But Tuesday, he said, marked a new level in approach and scope as federal agents tried to access fields and packinghouses. Solano, like other organizers, are wondering what their next move will be.

“If they didn’t show up in the morning, it’s possible they’ll show up in the afternoon,” Solano said. “We’re going to stay alert to everything that’s happening.”

While agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol showed up at food production sites from the Central Coast to the San Joaquin Valley, much of the activity centered on the Oxnard Plain. Maureen McGuire, chief executive of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said federal agents visited five packing facilities and at least five farms in the region. Agents also stopped people on their way to work, she said.

In many cases, according to McGuire and community leaders, farm owners refused to grant access to the agents, who had no judicial warrants.

California, which grows more than one-third of the nation’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, has long been dependent on undocumented labor to tend its crops. Though a growing number of farm laborers are migrants imported on a seasonal basis through the controversial H-2A visa program, at least half the state’s 255,700 farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, according to UC Merced research. Many have lived in California for years, and have put down roots and started families.

Juvenal Solano, with Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, said Tuesday’s raids in Ventura County farm fields marked a dramatic escalation in tactics.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

Until this week, California’s agricultural sector had largely escaped the large-scale raids that the Department of Homeland Security has deployed in urban areas, most recently in Los Angeles and Orange counties. California farmers — many of them ardent supporters of Donald Trump — have seemed remarkably calm as the president vowed mass deportations of undocumented workers.

Many expected that Trump would find ways to protect their workforce, noting that without sufficient workers, food would rot in the fields, sending grocery prices skyrocketing.

But this week brought a different message. Asked about enforcement actions in food production regions, Tom Homan, Trump’s chief adviser on border policy, said growers should hire a legal workforce.

“There are programs — you can get people to come in and do that job,” he said. “So work with ICE, work with [U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services], and hire a legal workforce. It’s illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien.”

Ventura County strawberry fields had far fewer workers Wednesday, a day after federal agents targeted the region for immigration raids.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

California’s two U.S. senators, both Democrats, issued a joint statement Wednesday decrying the farm raids, saying that targeting farmworkers for deportation would undermine businesses and families.

“Targeting hardworking farmworkers and their families who have been doing the backbreaking work in the fields for decades is unjustified and unconscionable,” Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff said in their statement.

The California Farm Bureau also issued a statement, warning that continued enforcement would disrupt production.

“We want to be very clear: California agriculture depends on and values its workforce,” said Bryan Little, senior director of policy advocacy at the California Farm Bureau. “We’re still early in the season, with limited harvest activity, but that will soon ramp up. If federal immigration enforcement activities continue in this direction, it will become increasingly difficult to produce food, process it and get it onto grocery store shelves.”

Arcenio Lopez, executive director of MICOP, said he is especially concerned about the prospect of Indigenous workers being detained, because many cannot read or write in English or Spanish, and speak only their Indigenous languages. The organization’s leaders suspect that many of those detained Tuesday are Indigenous, and are rushing to find them before they sign documents for voluntary deportation that they don’t understand. They’re urging that anyone who gets arrested call their hotline, where they offer legal assistance.

Rob Roy, president of the Ventura County Agricultural Association, said he has been warning growers since November that this time would come and providing training on their legal rights. Many know to ask for search warrants, he said. But that still leaves undocumented workers vulnerable on their way to and from work.

“I think overall here, they’re fairly safe on the farms or the building,” Roy said. “But when they leave work, they’re very concerned.”

Elaine Yompian, an organizer with VC Defensa, said she is urging families to stay home, if possible, to avoid exposure.

“We actually told a lot of the families who contacted us, if you can potentially not work today, don’t go,” Yompian said, adding that they are able to provide limited support to families through donations they receive.

Families whose loved ones have been detained are struggling to understand what comes next, she said.

“People are terrified; they don’t know at what point they’re going to be targeted,” Yompian said. “The narrative that they’re taking criminals or taking bad people off the streets is completely false. They’re taking the working-class people that are just trying to get by.”

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

In Old English its name meant “the land of the summer people”, after the local practice of coming down to the Somerset Levels after the winter flooding receded. Today, Somerset is still somewhere where seasons are felt vividly, as Sophie Brendel and Panu Long discovered when they and their two children moved to Thornfalcon, their farmstead in a village of the same name, 15 minutes’ drive from Taunton, at the end of 2022. Here, they are on constant weather watch, tending their young vines (Panu, now a winemaker, has a background in the drinks industry) and harvesting daily from the kitchen garden. They are also busy making plans for the apple harvest, which will go into the 150-year-old cider press.

In addition, they have created a handful of places to stay on their 16-hectare (40-acre) site, which sprawls through woods, orchards and vines to a reed-fringed lake. Walking around it at the end of May, you feel the cusp of summer, from the water lilies coming into bloom and the nesting swan, guarded by her mate. “Soon the eggs will hatch, and later she’ll teach the cygnets to fly, before taking them down to the Somerset Levels,” says Sophie.

My cabin, the Vine Hut, is surrounded by wildflowers overlooking rows of champagne grape varieties. Inside, nature is just as enveloping: nasturtiums climb over the bedroom wallpaper, a blousy bunch of homegrown peonies sits on the dining table. Behind the orchard, the Lambing Shed’s interior is clad in textured band-sawn planks and the bed’s headboard is painted with apple blossom. In front of the family’s blue lias stone farmhouse is the two-bedroom Coach House, filled with antiques and beautiful textiles, which hint at Sophie’s years spent among pattern and design as a director at the V&A. The latest arrival is a vardo Gypsy wagon with floral patterned ceiling, which sleeps two children as extra accommodation for families staying in the cabins.

As the sun creeps out, I wander back to the lake, Mr Swan still patrolling in case I had a mind for a dip. Instead I sit in the wooden sauna – the big picture window frames the scene as swifts dip, and the mental ticker tape of to-do lists begins to melt away. There’s a hot tub outside too, and nearby an old boat house has been turned into the wild treatment room, where local therapist Gemma undoes some of the rest of my knots as the bird calls carry in off the water. Both cabins have outdoor baths of their own, although the plum spot at the Vine Hut after dinner is a pair of adirondack chairs, positioned just so to catch the sunset.

The next morning, in the sunny, green-painted kitchen, I make breakfast with blue-shelled eggs from the brood of Legbar chickens. There’s the option to have a box of just-picked Thornfalcon produce in your cabin on arrival, or Sophie and Panu are full of recommendations for eating nearby, from roasts at the Dinnington Docks to something smarter at the Barrington Boar. Afterwards, I take the short stomp through the village and up Thorn Hill (known as “the clump” for its wooden top), where baby bunnies dart from hedgerows. A patchwork of green rolls away to the edge of the Quantock Hills. There are other walks from the door, looping round through the village of North Curry – where you can pick up a duck sausage roll at the Bird in Hand pub, which is in the process of reopening and is currently serving pints and street food from a converted wagon outside. Slightly farther away, you can strike out around Cothelstone Hill to spot the herd of Exmoor ponies and bronze age burial mounds, or rent paddle boards from the Somerset Boat Centre to float along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal.

A current of creativity also flows through this corner of Somerset, and later that morning I meet Buc Dennis at his family’s Dennis Chinaworks in an old stable block outside Shepton Beauchamp (open Monday to Friday, and weekends by appointment). Visitors can buy beautiful vases and jugs, with patterns hand drawn by Buc’s mother, Sally Tuffin, a former fashion designer now in her 80s.

It’s not the only creative family hub in these parts, and afterwards I swing by the Temperleys’ Burrow Hill Cider Farm. The familiar Glastonbury cider bus is parked outside, the pumps fired up on Saturday afternoons, when local families spread picnic blankets between the apple trees, entertained by food trucks and circus troupes. Across the yard, Mary Temperley’s Make store is stocked with zesty body washes (also in bathrooms at Thornfalcon), baskets woven in Ghana and suzanis stitched in Jaipur.

Sophie and Panu, too, fizz with ideas. “When I developed long Covid, creativity and making were one of the key things that made me well again,” Sophie told me when pointing out a framed needlepoint she had stitched in one of the cabins. This summer, the first bottles of wine and cider will be ready; there are plans to take beekeeping courses and plant lavender fields; and to host feasts, yoga classes and painting workshops in a lovely old barn. It’s inspiring to be around, and equally, easy to dip into as much or as little as you choose. A place to get fired up or sink into a slower way of living, or, as I tried, to find a balance between the two.

Accommodation was provided by Thornfalcon Winery & Press: the Coach House sleeps five from £125 a night; the Vine Hut and the Lambing Shed sleep two from £170 a night, and the Gypsy Caravan an extra £70 a night (all two nights minimum), thornfalcon.com. Train travel was provided by Great Western Railway, which travels directly from London Paddington to Taunton, gwr.com.

Countryfile star Adam Henson has opened up about the support he has from family and friends and how, over the years, he has faced some challenges while running the farm

Adam Henson, known from BBC’s Countryfile, has candidly spoken out about the hurdles he’s encountered in both his professional and personal spheres.

While not on screen, Adam is hard at work managing his family farm in the Cotswolds, a legacy started by his father Joe back in 1971.

During an intimate chat with Reach PLC, Adam shared insight into the critical support provided by loved ones and friends, admitting that steering the farm has indeed presented numerous obstacles over time.

Further delving into his private life, Adam disclosed the tough period following his wife Charlie’s cancer diagnosis.

Adam conveyed his natural optimism, saying: “My characteristics are that I am an upbeat person, and I have got an incredibly supportive family, wife and children and people around me.,” reports Gloucestershire Live.

Speaking of his professional dealings, he said: “And within the business, I have got a business partner who I was at Agricultural College with and he is one of my closest friends and what we do is surround ourselves with people that are excellent within their own role in the business. Whether that is a manager or a farm manager, and we work really closely with the team and we are all very honest and open with one another.

“I have had some very difficult times in my life, both in business and personally. My wife was very ill a few years ago, my parents dying, and I lost a nephew.”

Sharing on how he’s coped with these trials, he noted: “We have gone through foot and mouth challenges, Covid, and we have had some tough times, but I’ve never had poor mental health because I’ve had that fantastic support system around me.”

In an emotional disclosure, Adam and his wife previously opened up about the tremendous impact that the cancer diagnosis had on their lives.

Back in 2021, the couple were confronted with the news they had been fearing when Charlie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Charlie confided to the Daily Mirror, expressing the shock they felt: “It was both barrels,” as she recounted the moment a significant tumour was discovered on her pancreas. “We knew people who’d died of pancreatic cancer, and I absolutely felt this was going to be the end of my life.”

Adam shared his own turmoil: “I felt physically sick,” while Charlie recalled the overwhelming confirmation of their worries, saying: “Our darkest fears were confirmed. Adam had to practically carry me down the corridor. My legs were like jelly.”

The couple sought help from one of the nation’s top specialists, leading to Charlie being slated for a risky surgery, with the outcome hanging in the balance.

On the day, Adam described the emotionally charged atmosphere: “There were a lot of tears and a lot of emotion in the room.”

The family then travelled to London for Charlie’s painstaking procedure, during which she prepared for the worst by penning final letters to Adam, their kids, and her siblings.

However, two years on from those heart-wrenching times, Charlie has made steps towards normality, working part-time and living in anticipation of her six-monthly scans.

Countryfile is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Glamorous farmhand Harriet Cowan has said goodbye to Jeremy Clarkson and the Diddly Squat farm after stepping in to provide much-needed cover – but she quickly became a fan favourite

New farmhand Harriet Cowan, 24, has said her goodbyes to the Diddly Squat farm after stepping in to provide some help to Jeremy Clarkson in series four – and a little dash of glamour.

The TikTok star was brought in as cover for manager Kaleb Cooper, 26, whilst he went on tour with his one-man show across the country, but on his return to the Chipping Norton farm, Harriet returned to her normal day-to-day life. In the sweet moment, she said goodbye to Jeremy Clarkson, the former Top Gear presenter, and said she had been a lifesaver.

“You saved my life. So, if we get stuck again, can we give you a call?” He asked the trained nurse. However, as it stands, there are “no plans” that she will appear again in this series of Clarkson’s Farm, or any potential future ones – sources close to the show have previously revealed.

Whilst Harriet has left the show for now, the social media star quickly became a fan favourite – and boasts over 448,700 followers on her TikTok account and 159,000 on Instagram – with many calling for her to be brought back to the show.

Harriet comes from a farming family and grew up on her grandad’s livestock farm, which her dad has now taken over. Most of the content centres around life in agriculture and her unbelievably sweet brown collie dog, Sky. The Mirror takes a look at just what Harriet gets up to off-screen.

Girls’ holiday and nights out

Since finishing her time on Clarkson’s Farm, Harriet has jetted off with her friends to Spain to enjoy a break in the sunshine. She ditched the wellies, grabbed a bucket hat and a blue bikini, and spent some much-needed time away from the farm relaxing poolside – and shared a few snaps from her time away.

Harriet was seen getting dolled up for a night out with the girls and shared a picture of her hard at work blowing up a pink lido so they could lounge in the pool. She’s also reported to have tried on a few accessories at a local store.

Whilst Harriet spends a lot of her time hard at work on the farm and nursing – as well as reportedly working as an advocate for the mental health of farmers – she also likes to let her hair down, and often posts snaps on her socials of glamorous nights out with her pals and partner James Booth.

Boyfriend James

Harriet has been with her boyfriend James – who is also reported to be a third-generation farmer – for “some time,” according to one of her step sisters. The Clarkson’s Farm star regularly posts pictures and sweet videos with her partner, who she seems to have met at the Young Farmers Club (YFC), writing over one video post of the couple: “The ‘butterfly effect’ is crazy because if I didn’t join young farmers we’d of never of met.”

The pair obviously have a lot in common with their farming backgrounds, with Harriet writing in one joking post last year: “Your bf brings you presents to unwrap … Mine brings me bales to unwrap. We’re not the same.”

She joked in another post about lambing season, which saw her holding a seriously cute lamb “I’ve been covered head to toe in bodily fluids. But at the end of it all I expect my bf to take the bins out cause it’s gross”.

Nursing career

Whilst Harriet seems to be pretty busy helping out with the cows and sheep on the farm – she also has a full-time job as a nurse. She graduated from the University of Derby in 2023 and is now fully qualified, working for the NHS, so needless to say she has a pretty packed schedule.

In one post she joked about her packed calendar and the financial difficulties that can come with farming, writing over one video on her TikTok: “Thinking I could quit my job and farm full time… but then I remember I have a mortgage to pay.” She captioned the lighthearted post, “Suppose I would miss nursing a bit too”.

Family feud

Unfortunately, Harriet seems to be embroiled in some family tensions – with her stepsister speaking out about her publicly since her rise to fame on Clarkson’s Farm. Elina Clifford, a professional chiropodist, opened up about her feelings on her estranged step-sister Harriet, and she certainly didn’t hold back when it came to diving into the subject.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Elina dubbed her step-sister “fake” and “self-absorbed”, adding, “She loves to be the centre of attention, often at others’ expense”.

She also issued a blunt warning to Clarkson’s Farm: “She is fake in the way she behaves, so Jeremy Clarkson, beware!”. According to The Express, Elina and her elder sister Maddie – a teacher – blame the origins of the “family feud” on Harriet’s behaviour towards their mother Vicky, who is in a relationship with Harriet’s dad Eddy.

The sisters claim that Harriet isn’t nice to their mother, which has caused serious tension. “We don’t have a good relationship with her. Our mum is with her dad now, and there was a lot of drama a couple of years ago. There is a family feud, and Harriet was not being very nice to mum, and it was very upsetting,” said Maddie.

The siblings went as far as to say that Harriet was only taking part in Clarkson’s Farm in an attempt to grow her already massive social media following – calling it “sad and desperate” and claiming the TV star is “obsessed with herself”.

Clarkson’s Farm is now streaming on Prime Video.

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