Food and drink play an important role in bringing people together during the festive season and Welsh farmers are proud to play their part by producing world-class produce for your Christmas dinner, writes NFU Cymru Brecon & Radnor County Adviser Stella Owen.

In these challenging times, British poultry farmers are working hard to provide high quality Christmas turkeys, reared to high welfare standards. If you’re in England or Wales, you can support British farming by using the NFU Turkey Finder.

The NFU’s #BuyMyTurkey campaign is back again for 2023, urging shoppers to buy their Christmas turkey directly from the farm where it was produced.

The campaign, which launches on 17th November, encourages the public to find their local producer by putting their postcode into the NFU’s online Turkey Finder tool. The NFU Turkey Finder is a fantastic free promotional tool for any farm fresh turkey business selling direct to the consumer.

There are now over 240 farms on it across England and Wales, including an interactive map to make easier for shoppers to locate their nearest producers. By sourcing a turkey from your local producer, you’ll be getting a high-quality bird which has been raised to world-leading standards, at the same time as cutting your own food miles and supporting the rural economy.

The campaign also reminds people who cannot buy from their local farm to look for the Red Tractor logo on turkey packaging when shopping in the supermarket. The logo means that the food you buy has been responsibly sourced, safely produced and comes from crops and animals that have been well cared for.

In previous years the campaign has been hugely successful in promoting buying local and British turkeys for Christmas. Last year, the campaign reached more than 100,000 people online. If you are a turkey producer who is not already listed on the Turkey Finder please contact NFU to get your business details listed.

We encourage everyone to buy turkey directly from the farm this year as it would in turn help farmers after a challenging year with high costs and low prices.