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Rural crime is ‘blight on the countryside’
• Farmers bear brunt of criminal acts • 10% say it costs their business £10K • Police ‘need more rural resources’
The devastating impact of rural crime on farmers has prompted renewed urgent calls for more resources to tackle the issue.
The most common crimes include hare coursing, fly tipping, burglary and theft, according to an NFU survey. Of the 252 respondents from East Anglia who were victims of crime in 2020, some 10% said it had cost their business £10,000 or more.
The average financial loss per farm was £5,100. One farmer who asked not to be named, said:“Rural crime is like an additional tax on the business, as we are constantly spending money upgrading security.”
Severe problem
The survey was conducted ahead of this month’s Police and Crime Commissioner elections on 6 May. The NFU is asking all candidates to recognise the severity of the issue and commit to prioritising a reduction in rural crime as a strategic objective.
Fly-tipping, theft and harecoursing are among the problems
Rural areas receive lower levels of police funding, says Gary Ford
NFU eastern region director Gary Ford said: “Rural crime remains a blight on the countryside. We are concerned, but sadly not surprised, that so many of our members have been affected.”
The survey shows that farmers and the wider rural community are fighting back – introducing additional security measures to farms and working more closely with the police.
Mr Ford said: “Many members appreciate the response they receive from the police on rural crime but feel that rural teams are under-funded and under-resourced.”
New technology
Farmers are making use of new technology, such as WhatsApp,to share information with local police officers. One farmer told the NFU: “It is now impossible to grow food without people driving on crops and damaging them.”
Crimes like hare coursing, fly-tipping, dog attacks on livestock and theft of large and small machinery are all leaving rural residents feeling vulnerable and under siege.
Mr Ford said: “They have knockon effects on farm businesses. Despite this, rural areas continue to receive lower levels of police funding, per head of population, than urban areas.
“We will be using the survey findings in our discussions with police and crime commissioner candidates to help ensure rural policing receives the resources it needs – and rural communities deserve.”
The NFU survey paints a bleak picture of crime in the countryside – but one which is also sadly familiar to many farmers.
Almost two thirds of respondents (64%) said rural crime had increased in the past year, while 51% said they felt “not very” or “not at all” secure from crime. More than half (54%) said insufficient police resources were allocated to tackling it.
As well as their experiences of crime, the survey included questions about crime prevention measures introduced on farms over the past five years – and how farmers are working with police.
The survey results show that farmers are responding to the problem by taking steps such as blocking field entrances (78%), digging ditches around fields (45%), upgrading building security (66%) and installing CCTV (49%) on their farms.
More than one third (35%) of respondents said they had regular contact with the police outside of reporting crime. These included face-to-face meetings and attendance at NFU-organised events.
Almost half of farmers surveyed say they are responding by installing CCTV.
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Norfolk farmers lead way in biggest ever bird count
• Rare bird species recorded on farms • Farmers committed to conservation • Detailed picture of farm environment
Norfolk has topped the table in a national farmland bird count – with farmers from the county completing the survey in greater numbers than anywhere else.
Organised by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the National Farmland Bird Count was completed by some 2,500 farmers and gamekeepers during 5-21 February – including 189 participants from Norfolk.
Nationally, participation in the annual survey of farmland birds more than doubled, said organiser Roger Draycott of the GWCT. This represented a 65% increase in the number of counts submitted compared to 2020, which was also a record year.
The land area covered by the count had more than doubled to more than 1m hectares (2.47m acres), said Dr Draycott. Some 81% more birds were recorded this year by more than 700 additional volunteers.
In Norfolk, 53% of the 189 farmers and gamekeepers taking part in the survey were in an agri-environment scheme – demonstrating their longterm commitment to the environmental management of farmland.
Farmers counted 100 different species, 20 of which are red-listed and the top six most commonly seen were blackbird, robin, woodpigeons, carrion crows, blue tits and pheasants.
“All of this helps us to build a detailed national picture of the state of Britain’s farmland birds, allowing us to better understand what is really going on in our countryside,” said Dr Draycott.
“It clearly shows that farmers, land
Rare species recorded included the
linnet [photo: Andy Hay / RSPB Images]
Below: BFBC
national results 2021
Below left: Some
81% more birds were surveyed this year, says Roger Draycott
managers and gamekeepers care for the land they work and, given that they look after 71% of all the land in the UK, that is extremely good news for the future of our bird species.”
Leading the way
Describing the survey as encouraging, Dr Draycott said the results demonstrated that farmers and land managers were leading the way in protecting the countryside – alongside their key job of producing food.
A total of 25 species from the Red List for Birds of Conservation Concern were recorded in this year’s count, with eight appearing in the 25 most frequently seen species list.
Of these, starlings, fieldfare, lapwing and linnet were the four most abundant red-listed species recorded, with more than 112,000 spotted in total. This equates to 22% of all the birds counted.
The five most abundant birds counted were woodpigeons, starling, rooks, fieldfare and chaffinch. Some 190,000 were seen, making up over 37% of the total number of birds recorded.
Bird count highlights importance of farming
The GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count asks land managers to spend 30 minutes recording the bird species they see on their land. It is part of an annual UK-wide survey which helps conservation experts identify any species which are struggling.
The count is a simple way for farmers to assess the natural capital on farm, an increasing requirement under the government’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). It also charts the effects of any conservation they carry out.
Completing the survey year after year can help to establish the bio-diversity gains from long-term conservation efforts. The scheme was launched in 2014 to highlight the positive work done by farmers and gamekeepers in helping to reverse the decline in farmland birds.
The NFU has sponsored the count for the last three years. NFU President Minette Batters said people often didn’t realise that farmers provide habitats for wildlife and additional feeding for farmland birds during the winter months.
This year’s survey was completed by farmers in every county of England – and across much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The average farm size taking part was 416ha (1,027 acres).
