Essex in top ten worst hit areas in the country for rural crime
The East of England also saw a rise in rural crime costs last year
Essex has been left counting the cost of rural crime after a report found the county was the eighth worst hit area in the country.
Offences cost just shy of ÂŁ1.5 million in 2022, just behind Norfolk as the worst hit area in the east in NFU Mutual's annual rural crime report published today.
Meanwhile, the East of England saw a 28.5 per cent increase in costs in 2022 to ÂŁ6.6m, jumping from ÂŁ5.1m on the year before.
NFU Mutual say the rise comes amid higher values and low supply of farm machinery worldwide.
Matt Wilson is a rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual:
“The East is a big farming region typically more arable and some of the kit in that area is more expensive; that’s why we see such large increases and figures in that particular area,” he said.
“There’s been a significant increase in the theft of GPS devices fitted on those (agricultural) vehicles.
“They can be easy to steal because they’re quite portable, so we encourage our farmers to remove them from the vehicles when they can.”
GPS theft cost worsened in first third of this year
NFU Mutual’s report found in the UK, the cost of GPS theft increased by 15% to £1.8m in 2022.
But the insurer said the problem worsened in the first four months of 2023, with the cost of GPS theft doubling to over ÂŁ500,000 compared to the same period last year.
Thefts of quad bikes and ATVs also went up, by 34% to ÂŁ3 million.
Hannah Binns, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual, said gangs target high-value machinery and GPS kits due to their appeal across the world.
"Highly organised gangs are causing disruption to farming and widespread concern to people who live and work in the countryside,” she said.
"Many items are stolen to order by thieves using online technology to identify where farm machinery is stored and scope out the best way to steal it.
"They will also spend hours watching the movement of farming families to work out the best time to attack.”
"The emotional impact cannot be underplayed"
Some of the measures that NFU Mutual are doing to help protect farmers and rural communities from rural crime include:
- Providing more than ÂŁ400,000 in support for initiatives fighting rural crime
- Funding and setting up an agricultural vehicle theft unit
- Training young farmers in crime prevention
Mr Wilson added: “The emotional impact of these thefts cannot be underplayed.
“If they’re stolen at the wrong time of year when they need them, that can have a big impact on how they work on their farm.
“At the moment, we don’t see this trend decreasing; that’s why we run this campaign so more people are aware of the issue and if we work together, some of those trends will reverse.”