Theft from farms and in rural areas was on the increase in the first half of 2017, according to new figures published on Monday by NFU Mutual. The cost of rural theft had fallen by 4% in 2016 but have risen sharply in first half of 2017.

According to NFU Mutual’s Rural Crime Report, early theft claims statistics for the first half of this year show a sharp rise of over 20%, despite initiatives launched by a number of police forces this year, raising concerns that a new wave of rural crime is hitting the countryside and that thieves are becoming more “brazen” in the insurer’s words.
 
Having questioned rural people, NFU Mutual said that being ‘staked out’ is the biggest concern, followed closely by longer police response times in rural areas.

The figures show that North East England and the Midlands have been the regions hardest hit by thefts so far in 2017; in these regions, rural crime has cost £7.3 and £6.7 million respectively. The figures show criminals continue to target Land Rovers, quad bikes, tractors, tools and livestock despite increased security on farms.
 
The last rural crime report suggested that the cost of crime had fallen to £39.2m in 2016 as farmers took measures to increase security and protect themselves, however, NFU Mutual Rural Affairs Specialist Tim Price said the apparent rise this year is “Deeply worrying.”
 
Mr Price said, “Countryside criminals are becoming more brazen and farmers are now having to continually increase security and adopt new ways of protecting their equipment.  In some parts of the country, farmers are having to turn their farmyards into fortresses to protect themselves from repeated thieves who are targeting quads, tractors and power tools. They are using tracking devices on tractors, video and infra-red surveillance in their farmyards and even DNA markers to protect sheep from rustlers.
 
“The threat of becoming a victim of rural crime, and regular reports of suspicious characters watching farms is causing high levels of anxiety amongst farmers who know their rural location makes them vulnerable to attacks.”
 
Mr Price added, “As the main insurer of the countryside, NFU Mutual has responded to its members’ concerns and has invested over £1m to tackle the menace.  The results of initiatives we support show clearly that when police, farmers and other rural organisations tackle rural crime in an organised way these schemes can be extremely effective.”
 
Despite the increases in criminal activity seen on farms in England, in Scotland, where NFU Mutual and Police Scotland have joined forces to form the SPARC (Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime) initiative, the cost of rural theft fell by over 32% last year. There have been similarly positive results from a Rural Crime Partnership including NFU Mutual, PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland), MOJ (Ministry of Justice) and other organisations in Northern Ireland, where this year’s figures show the cost of rural theft is down by 14.9%.

The main targets:

NFU mutual notes that the following are especially attractive to criminals, with increased thefts seen across the country.
 
Quads and ATVS

• Quads and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) are disappearing from farms in large numbers – thanks to being easy to transport and lack of registration plates
• The cost of Quad and ATV theft claims to NFU Mutual rose to £2m, an increase of 11% from 2015 to 2016
• CESAR marking and tracking devices are the most effective security measures – once basic measures of keeping vehicles out of sight in a building with the machine secured to have been addressed

 
Land Rover Defenders

• Since Land Rover’s iconic Defender rolled off the production line in January last year it has become an even bigger target for thieves
• Costs for theft of Defender vehicle claims to NFU Mutual rose to £2.1 million in 2016, an increase of 17% since 2015
• The region with the highest cost of Land Rover Defender thefts last year was the North East, followed by the South East, the Midlands and the South West

Tractors

• Thieves are increasingly cloning the identity of tractors to make detection more difficult
• Eastern counties are being targeted most
• Thieves are stealing small, older tractors for export as well as expensive large models

Livestock

• The estimated cost of livestock theft fell from £2.9m in 2015 to £2.2m in 2016. All UK regions experienced a fall - apart from Wales where the cost rose by £100,000
• Thefts of large numbers of lambs are raising concerns that stock is being stolen for slaughter and processing outside regulated abattoirs before illegally entering the food chain
• Technology - including DNA testing and electronic chips in boluses now offer robust evidence to help bring rustlers to justice