“If I get a nosebleed on stage, it’s totally normal. It happens every time I go past Stow-on-the-Wold. I’m nervous but excited. I hope everyone has a really good laugh and learns something about farming they didn’t know before,” Kaleb told Student Farmer ahead of his 34-date theatre tour which kicks off next year, and the launch of his second book, ‘Britain According to Kaleb; The Wonderful World of Country Life’.
Due out in October, the book will be a whistle-stop tour of rural British traditions with musings on Morris Dancing and country fairs.
Speaking to Beth about the latter, he said: “I don’t like sheep but seeing the little kids running around the ring with them just puts a great big smile on my face. It’s teaching people about farming but in a really fun way.”
Kaleb shot to fame after appearing on the Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm, helping Jeremy to manage the farming. Born in 1998, he grew up in the Cotswolds and has been working in farming since he was at school.
Although not from farming background – “my mum was a dog groomer and my dad a carpenter” – Kaleb fell in love with the industry from an early age.
“My mum, for my 13th birthday, bought me three chickens and within months I set up a business and had about 450. That’s how I started, with my own chicken company. I was selling eggs round Chipping Norton to teachers and local people,” he added.
After his poultry endeavours, Kaleb turned his hand to breeding sheep and working on a dairy farm, and a year later, aged 15, he bought his first tractor.
A helping hand
It’s this love of farming from a young age that’s inspired Kaleb to help the next generation, a pledge which has seen him partner with the RAU (Royal Agricultural University) to launch a new bursary scheme for those looking to begin a career in agriculture.
The annual bursary will provide £3,000 to support a student in exploring different paths into agriculture, as well as the opportunity for a work placement with Kaleb himself, or one of his industry partners, either during the course of their university studies, or as a gap year placement.
“If I can help somebody get into farming or support them along their journey, that would really mean the world to me.”
Kaleb Cooper
Open to RAU undergraduate students who are living in the UK, the bursary will open for applications in September with the first student receiving their award in early 2024.
“I know how hard it is to get into farming, to the point where I thought I’m not going to do it, nobody is going to take me on, I’m not getting any work,” he explained.
“So, if I can help somebody get into farming or support them along their journey, that would really mean the world to me. I can’t wait until, maybe six- or seven-years’ time, for the people I’ve sponsored to come up to me and go ‘I was put through your bursary and now I’m in wherever farming 3,000 acres. Thanks to you, I’m where I am today’. That’s going to honestly make my day, just as much as it does when young kids dress up as me on World Book Day.
“That’s what’s giving me the hype and the adrenaline to go out there and help as many students as possible.”
Paying it forward
Kaleb is also working on addressing the issue of student placements.
“I’ve got a young apprentice on my farm. I left school and went straight into work, and he said he wants to do the same so I was like: ‘right, we’re away’.
“With the RAU, I can support people, but the biggest problem is trying to find a placement and that’s what I’m trying to tackle at the moment. I don’t want students to have to worry about having a placement. I’m trying to get farmers together where they can go out and agree to taking one or two students each year.”
It’s all about paying it forward.
“The average age of a farmer is 62, which is fine, but those 62-year-olds have got to teach the young kids the industry. They’ve got so much knowledge up here [pointing vigorously to his head] that they need to pass on to these younger kids coming through who are going to be the future of farming. Then, in another 60 years, they can then go ‘I got taught this at 13 years old, so I’m now going to teach another 13-year-old’.”
Photograph: Paul Nicholls and the Royal Agricultural University.
Dreams don’t work unless you do
For young people keen to get into farming, Kaleb has one main message: “Dreams don’t work unless you do.”
He added: “I’m a firm believer in setting a goal and getting there. There’s going to be a few barriers along the way but you either put your head down and go through those barriers or you stand still.”
He also champions the old-school approach of going down to the farm gate and simply chatting to the farmer.
“Go down to your local farmer and offer to help. They’re probably going to be stubborn because they’re thinking ‘I’ve got to pay another person’ but while you’re speaking to them, just give them a hand if you can because as soon as you do, they’ll go ‘oh, you’re actually really useful, actually I could do with another person on this farm’ and then you’ll get the job, I’m sure you will.”
He’s also passionate that farming is open to everyone.
“It doesn’t matter if you get As or Us, or if you don’t do GCSEs at all. I did okay on my GCSEs, and I went to agriculture apprenticeship. I got two of them and it went well and I’m where I am today, but there are so many jobs in farming that you can go and do.
“If you’re a scientist, farmers need scientists more than anything, the stuff that crops go through as a scientist is incredible. If you’re a tecchie guy or girl, you can go and design GPS or new systems [pointing at his GPS in his tractor] – look at that, I don’t understand that, someone has set that up and designed that, it’s amazing.
“And if you want to go out there and just farm; it doesn’t matter your qualifications, who you are as a person, gender, nothing, there is a job out there for everybody and the industry is so much bigger than everyone thinks.”
Best job in the world
As to whether being thrust in the showbiz spotlight has changed him, Kaleb said no.
“I don’t think it changed me at all, I think I’m still the same person as in season one, I’ve just got a bit of a beard now and I’ve got four-and-half chest hairs, and two kids.”
And while he loves learning the new industry that is TV, it’s clear that farming still has his heart.
“No day is the same in farming. Every day is different and the day I wake up and go ‘ugh, I have to go to work today’ is the day that I’m not in the right job. Twelve years on, I’ve never done that. I wake up every day and I go ‘right, what am I doing today?’ and I do it with a smile and I’m the happiest person ever.”
As to what the future holds, Kaleb said he is a firm believer in that everything happens for a reason but one thing is for certain: “I’ll still be farming, there’s no doubt about that.”
For applications to Kaleb’s agricultural bursary with the Royal Agricultural University, visit: rau.ac.uk
Britain According to Kaleb; The Wonderful World of Country Life will be published in hardback, ebook and audio on 12 October 2023. Go to kaleblive.com for The World According to Kaleb tour tickets.