BBC Countryfile star Frank Carr, who was a fourth-generation farmer and passionate advocate for the trade, has died aged 35. 

Fans paid tribute to the ambassador for farming, who died on September 25, describing him as a 'committed' and 'talented' young farmer, 'who represented the very best of the next generation'. 

Carr was the fourth generation in his family to farm at Lee Gate Farm in Malhamdale, North Yorkshire. 

He worked in his family business and helped to run a significant beef and sheep business which had around 250 breeding cows and 1,300 breeding ewes, as well as store and finished cattle. 

The young farmer had starred on the popular BBC One programme Countryfile, which often pulls in more than three million viewers when it is broadcast each Sunday evening. 

On the programme, Carr spoke honestly about the challenges of the lambing season in the Yorkshire Dales and the pressure of farming 2,000 acres in the rugged landscape. 

He was also a #Farm24 campaign ambassador for several years, a role which saw him highlight the realities of modern farming. 

He also regularly featured in Farmers Guardian, discussing his battles to secure the future of the family business and sharing his farming journey. 

It had not been an easy ride for the young farmer. In the episode of Countryfile he starred in, which aired on August 23 earlier this year, Carr detailed how he had taken over the family business after his parents got divorced. 

He had been travelling in Australia and working as a bartender, but returned to Yorkshire upon their split to come back and run the farm, to keep it in the family. 

He said on Countryfile: 'When I was younger and I saw how restricted it was, I was adamant that [farming] was not going to be the life for me, and I went travelling for a good while - for about two and a half years. Asia for about a year, South America, Europe, here there and everywhere.

'When my parents got divorced and my father and uncle were deciding what would happen to its future, we realised I was the only one who had any interest in it, so it was sort of a yes or no.' 

He ran the business alongside his father, Frank Senior, but he was frank when he spoke about how the business was in £1million of debt. 

The farm had been in the family for nearly a century, beginning in 1927 with his great-grandmother, who was a maths professor and ran the farm's books. 

When she married into the family, she came with a dowry - which they used to buy an extra 300 acres of land with a fresh spring, that could be used as a water source. 

Speaking on a video about his farming life, he said: 'Every generation of Lee Gate farmers pushed forward and built on the previous generation. I hopefully intend to do the same.'

Asked why he loves what he does, he said: '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 also 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.'

Carr was much respected in the farming community, with the Farmers Guardian paying tribute to him as a 'true friend' whose loss was 'immeasurably sad'. 

The editor of the publication, Katie Jones, wrote: 'For those who met Frank through his farming, his work with the industry or his appearances in the farming media, he 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. 

'He was a true friend of FG. His loss, at just 35, is immeasurably sad.' 

Farmers Guardian added: 'Frank had a deep connection to the farm, the landscape and the generations who had gone before him.'