Farmers are being encouraged to take to social media to show why families across the country should make British turkey the centrepiece of their Christmas dinner.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has been travelling around the country to turkey meetings this autumn to encourage farmers to use the hashtag #BuyMyTurkey to promote local, farm fresh turkey on social media.

The NFU’s Turkey Finder has already had 24,000 visits since it opened at the beginning of November this year.

The webpage aims to give shoppers the ability to type in their postcode and find a local farm that produces turkeys from a list of more than 250 NFU members across England and Wales.

NFU poultry board member and turkey farmer Michael Bailey said: “British farmers are fantastic advocates of our industry and I hope to see thousands once again take to social media and shout about what makes British turkey fantastic.

I would encourage all farmers – whether turkey producers or not – to get involved with promoting buying a British turkey this Christmas by using the hashtag #BuyMyTurkey, whether that’s through a simple message, a photo or a short video.

“Particularly at this time of great uncertainty and change, it has never been more important to make the case for supporting local farm businesses by buying a farm fresh turkey this Christmas.”