Jimmy Doherty

The farmer, television presenter and rare-breeds champion tells Alec Marsh of his mission to bring Britain’s increasingly urbanised population back to nature

- Alec Marsh

ASKED TO describe himself, Jimmy Doherty takes a big intake of breath. “I suppose I am a farmer, conservationist, TV presenter.” He gives a self-deprecating laugh that invites friendship. “Or maybe broadcaster sounds better?” Doherty, who is a youthful 50, first rose to prominence for his fly-on-the-wall series in 2004 about becoming a rare-breeds pig farmer in Suffolk. Jimmy's Farm was a hit on the BBC and ran for several seasons. He and old mate Jamie Oliver have also collaborated on many successful shows.

Not long before that Doherty had been doing a PhD in entomology (insects, to you and me) when 9/11 happened. The way he tells it, he was counting flies when he realised it was time to throw it all in to become a farmer, one producing “quality meat with a story to tell – and rare breeds have a story”. He and his now wife Michaela started with a rented 100-acre farm outside Ipswich. Looking back, Doherty says it was “terrible land for growing anything... overrun, overgrown, bad land – ideal for pigs”. These were the livestock of choice because they required low investment but offered a rapid return. Doherty threw himself into the farmers’ market circuit before opening a farm shop of his own. Visitors, he discovered, liked to see the animals too, so quickly the ‘farm park’ dimension of the operation began to grow, soon becoming bigger than the actual agricultural aspect itself.