A YOUNG farmer from Roecliffe, near Boroughbridge, has been elected national chairman of the Young Farmers' Federation.

Mr Stephen Jarvis, who comes from a farming family, joined the YFC at the age of ten and has held many offices in the movement on his way to the top job.

He was Yorkshire county chairman in 1997-98, following this with a spell as national activities chairman and national vice-chairman. Before becoming county chairman of the largest county in the movement, Mr Jarvis held many offices in the county, including chairman of the county publications and promotions committee, and had held a variety of club positions.

As northern area chairman in 1997-98, he was responsible for establishing the now well-established annual northern area weekend for the seven northern counties and he has represented Yorkshire at northern area and national levels in many events and competitions throughout his 16 years as a competing member.

Although from a farming background, Mr Jarvis's main work interest has always been cooking and, having trained as a chef and following some years at the Yorkshire Tourist Board in York, he is now the chef at the Blacker Hall farm shop in Calder Grove.

He lives near Boroughbridge, with his doctor wife, Elizabeth, who is also a young farmer.

His main objectives for his term of office are to return the movement to the grass roots by listening to and consulting members and by delivering the programmes and activities they require, thus recruiting and retaining more members for the movement.

Nationally, the YFC movement has 26,000 members nation-wide and is open to anyone between the ages of ten and 26.