Tim Bennett has been deputy president for six years

Mr Bennett, whose parents were not farmers and who only started farming as a 14-year-old, has been elected the new president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

The 50-year-old, who has been deputy president for the last six years, farms 200 acres of grassland near Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire with his wife Susan.

Meanwhile, Meurig Raymond, who farms with his twin brother Mansel Raymond in Pembrokeshire, has been voted NFU vice president and Peter Kendall, from East Bedfordshire, has become deputy president.

Departing president Sir Ben Gill, who had held the post for six years, announced he would not be seeking re-election last year.

He said he had decided to hand over to a new team to allow them to handle the future challenges of reform to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Mr Bennett, who was brought up in the West Midlands, moved to Carmarthenshire in 1978.

He said he was delighted at the appointment, which came at the union's annual conference on Tuesday.

Sir Ben Gill announced he would be stepping down last year

Mr Bennett attended Seale-Hayne Agricultural College in Devon, then worked in France and Herefordshire, before morving to west Wales.

The father-of-two said it was an exciting time for agriculture, but was looking forward to the challenge of the job.

"We will have to be much more closely linked to the customer, and produce exactly what the customer wants to buy."

Until July 2003, Mr Bennett had a 70-cow dairy herd, but is now establishing a beef herd and rearing enterprise.

Meurig Raymond, 51, has been an active member of the NFU since being elected local branch Chairman of the NFU in 1979.

On the 2,700-acre Pembrokeshire farm he runs with his brother, he has 600 dairy cows, 600 beef cattle and around 2,000 lambs.

He is married to Hilary and has three children, Paul, 30, Nicola, 27 and Jonathan, 19.