A recent and challenging article by food writer Jay Rayner says buying global is better for the environment and after reading his evidence, the man once famous for waxing off his body hair, has a point.
But, let's remember he's a food writer and this article, promoting his new book, is a narrow view of a complex world.
Our recent State of Nature report clearly shows nature's in trouble and you can watch none other than Sir David Attenborough explain it all here. So with 60% of our UK wildlife slipping away from existence, will buying globally help? No.
Many of the small farms that Jay is happy to send to the wall in favour of the global market are responsible for maintaining some of the most precious plots of land we have in the UK; it's called High Nature Value farming. People like Harry Goring (pictured) from West Sussex or Liz Davidson from Essex.
They work hard to make a living and if we follow Jay's reasoning, we would remove what small profit they struggle to make. The differences in emissions Jay quotes are important, but so too is maintaining the land management that supports some of our most treasured wildlife. Hedgehogs and turtle doves are just two of the species that could well go extinct in the UK in my lifetime.
This isn't an urban versus rural argument. This is about trhe way we live, the way we feed ourselves and how much we value the natural world and processes that allow us to live the way we do. Let's remember Jay is a food writer so he can ignore the bigger picture. I salute him for signposting us down this route.
We can all do something about it and here's an easy first step; write to your MP. They'll soon be deciding how much tax payers money should go into a budget that should support high value nature farmers. They'll be coming under pressure from vested interests to put that money elsewhere, so we need a show of support demanding our investment delivers a healthy and thriving natural world for us and for wildlife. If that fails, defy Jay's reasoning and continue to buy UK produce to safeguard the natural inheritance we'd all like to pass on to the next generation.