Clarkson’s Farm success proves to be bad news for pigs
The return of Clarkson’s Farm has been linked to a spike in demand for British produce, however it’s bad news for pigs.
Last week the Amazon Prime series returned to screens, with the third season continuing to follow former Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson, 63, after he purchased land in the Cotswolds and established the Diddly Squat Farm.
Along the way he’s been helped by those including newly minted farm manager Kaleb Cooper, land agent Charlie Ireland, ‘head of security’ Gerald Cooper and his partner Lisa Hogan.
Although the team faced plenty of challenges, including the death of piglets in ‘alarming numbers’ after introducing pigs to the 1,000-acre property.
Now, new data has revealed in the week since the new episodes dropped, there’s been a significant sales increase in British goods.
Demand data from Ocado Retail, the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket, shows that sales of meat, fish and fruit and vegetables from its Best of British aisle jumped significantly over the past week.
After Diddly Squat introduced pigs to the farm, there has been a significant increase in sales of Ocado pork products, including sausages, bacon and gammon.
For example, M&S Select Farms British 12 Free Range Pork Chipolatas have spiked by 134%, M&S Select Farms British 6 Free Range Pork Sausages has gone up 108%, and The Black Farmer Wiltshire’s Cured Bacon – Smoked has increased by 56%.
Another new introduction to Diddly Squat was Lion’s Mane mushrooms, with Ocado data showing search for the product went up 482% in a week.
Organic produce like butter and kefir have also shown marked increases.
Ocado Retail’s produce trading manager Martha Springham said shows like Clarkson’s Farm ‘showed consumers just how hard Britain’s farmers work’.
‘Sales of British produce, from pork loin to kefir to mushrooms, have risen dramatically since we launched Ocado’s Best of British aisle, which contains more than 800 quality products spanning fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy. British produce is among the best in the world, and we will always do what we can to champion it,’ she said.
