The 5-minute Interview: Jimmy Doherty, farmer

'I am on the telly, but I'm not loaded'

(BBC)

Doherty, 31, is a zoology and entomology graduate whose trials in setting up a rare breed pig farm were chronicled in the BBC2 series 'Jimmy's Farm'. His new series, 'Jimmy Doherty's Farming Heroes', starts on BBC2 in July.

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be ...

Planting in my new butterfly house, a polytunnel filled with tropical butterflies for the kids.

A phrase I use too often ...

"Fantastic" and "amazing". I must have said both words a million times.

I wish people would take more notice of ...

Food production, in terms of the important role farmers play in our society and history.

The most surprising thing that happened to me was ...

That I've ended up running a farm. I also got an honorary doctorate from the University of East Anglia, I don't know what it's in.

A common misperception of me is ...

That somehow because I've been on the telly I'm loaded.

I am not a politician but ...

I would introduce a law to ensure all supermarkets had to pay farmers an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. The supermarkets say if you don't accept that price, they'll go somewhere else. What's a farmer meant to do with two tonnes of carrots? You can't sell it at a farmers' market.

I'm good at ...

Cooking roasts.

I'm bad at ...

Cleaning.

In moments of weakness I ...

Lose my temper, or have a mixed grill with a pint of beer and watch Band Of Brothers.

You know me as a farmer but in a truer life I'd have been ...

A policeman.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this ...

Not to take yourself too seriously and enjoy every moment.

Ben Naylor