Frank Carr Farmer died on September 25 aged 35, and tributes followed after the North Yorkshire hill farmer’s death was made public this week. He had appeared on One’s Countryfile and was known to viewers as a fourth-generation farmer at Lee Gate Farm in Malhamdale.
His Countryfile episode aired in August this year, after he had spoken about taking over the farm following about two and a half years of travelling. Carr said he went to Asia for about a year, South America, Europe, “here there and everywhere” before returning to farming.
Lee Gate Farm in Malhamdale
Carr ran the business alongside his father, Frank Senior, at Lee Gate Farm in Malhamdale, North Yorkshire. He was the fourth generation in his family to farm there, and his remarks on the programme showed how he viewed the work: rewarding, but mentally demanding and financially uncertain.
“In farming everyday is an opportunity to learn. Farming is a very rewarding profession although it can be very challenging mentally, it can also be very rewarding so that's another reason why I love what I do,” he said in a video about his job. He added: “At the end of the day farming is a business so the financial aspect is always an issue. There’s no real clarity on the future, especially for hill farms.”
Farmers Guardian tribute
Farmers Guardian said Carr was a familiar face to readers and that it had worked with him many times over the years. It said he had shared the realities of farming more than 2,000 acres in the Yorkshire Dales, supported Farm24 and taken part in its Next Generation Hill Farmers series.
Katie Jones, the paper’s editor, said: “Frank will be remembered not only as a talented young farmer but as someone who represented the very best of the next generation - committed to his family, his livestock, his land and the future of British farming.”
His death leaves the family farm, and the public picture of hill farming he helped present, tied to one clear fact: a young farmer who spoke openly about the pressures of the work is now being remembered for the same candor that brought him attention.
