Suffolk's Jimmy Doherty urges shoppers to ‘buy British’ to keep local farms alive
He's also encouraging farmers to diversify and move to online sales
Last updated 16th Oct 2025
TV presenter and Suffolk farmer Jimmy Doherty is calling on people to back British producers, warning that local farms and small businesses risk disappearing unless more consumers choose home-grown goods.
New research shows 83% of people say they would be more likely to buy British produce if it were easier to find, while nearly three-quarters believe it’s important that the products they buy are locally sourced.
Why buy local?
Doherty, who runs Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park near Ipswich, says buying British has a powerful impact beyond the shop counter.
“When we’re buying products, we often forget the ricochet effect of once you’ve spent that pound,” he said.
“If we can invest it in our own industries and local communities, it’s a very powerful thing. We all love seeing a healthy countryside and countryside businesses. Farms really need to diversify, and often they’re in very dangerous situations of disappearing because people go into towns, go to supermarkets, all that kind of stuff.”
He says helping small producers sell directly to customers, including through online platforms, can make all the difference.
“Now you can buy direct from a small local producer and they can be up in the hills of Cumbria or down south in Cornwall,” Jimmy explained.
“When I started 25 years ago, I used to travel up and down the country selling my wares from a little farm. Having something like this back then would have been a godsend.”
The relationship between shopper and farmer
He added that buying locally is about more than convenience; it’s about connecting people to where their food comes from.
“It’s not just about selling, it’s communication with the producer,” he said.
“If you’re a small producer or a farmer with something to sell, you can talk straight to your customer, just as if you were in the farm shop.”
For Doherty, one of the most powerful ways to promote British farming is by telling the stories behind it.
“Every show I’ve made about farming, it’s the farmers that really tell that story,” he said.
“People want to know how food is produced and the faces behind it. Look at Clarkson’s Farm, people watching it aren’t all farmers. They’re just fascinated by how it all works. Any society where consumers get closer to producers can only be a healthy thing.”
He also believes that more farmers should consider branding their products, not just selling raw produce, to make their businesses more resilient.
“If you’re just producing wheat, it’s just a commodity price, it doesn’t really demand any higher or lower value,” he said.
“But if you have a brand, that has real value to it. Farmers who’ve created food brands often really stand out, and this is an opportunity for them to show off what they do.”
The next generation
Doherty, who has spent more than two decades promoting British farming on screen and through his own business, says the campaign to buy local is about the future as much as the present.
“It’s about the next generation as well,” he said.
“We were talking about getting more farmers involved with technology. Some of the biggest names on social media now are farmers, they’re out in the fields showing people what they do. That’s the next generation we’ve got to think about, they’re the ones who’ll carry it forward.”