Essex farmer targeted by criminals every week calls for more resources for rural policing
Ed Ford tells Greatest Hits Radio it's mainly flytipping, theft and hare coursing
An Essex farmer - who says he's targeted by criminals every week - has 'barricaded' his farm.
Ed Ford, an arable farmer, based near Brentwood, is the victim of fly-tipping and hare coursing "often on a daily basis".
It's as a report by insurers NFU mutual reveals Essex has seen the biggest rural crime rise in England.
Mr Ford tells Greatest Hits Radio he's backing the National Farmer's Union calls for extra police resources.
He says he'd like to see "some more robust sentencing".
"There's not the convictions being done for flytipping.
"Hare coursing - don't give them a slap on the wrist, take their dogs off them", says Mr Ford.
Hare coursing is a barbaric crime where dogs are sent to chase hares across farmland for large bets of money and puts people, animals and property at risk.
Mr Ford, whose family has been farming for generations, has also had valuable GPS equipment stolen from tractors several times and has been hit by diesel theft on numerous occasions.
A report from insurers NFU Mutual revealed that rural crime cost Essex £2.7m last year, an 82.1pc increase from 2022, the biggest rise of any county in England.
The report shows that rural crime cost the UK £52.8m last year.
The NFU is highlighting the devastating impact of rural crime and the importance of collaborative action.
“We have had problems for as long as I can remember, and it is getting worse." says Mr Ford.
Mr Ford estimates that rural crime costs the business £4,000 to £5,000 every year, but believes the biggest impact is the amount of time it takes up dealing with the issues.
This affects the farm’s day-to-day work and ability to produce food.
He said: “We have put up more than 30 gates and effectively barricaded our farm in.
“Rural crime has become something we just have to deal with every week, and this is the case for many other farmers in Essex. It shouldn’t be this way.
“This really impacts you and makes you feel like you can’t trust anyone.
The NFU is calling for a consistent and coordinated response to rural crime across government and police forces, including fair funding for rural policing, a dedicated rural crime team in every police force in the country, and the formation of a cross-departmental rural crime task force to address the failures in dealing with rural crime.
Sustained petitioning by the NFU and other rural organisations, saw police given new penalties to tackle hare coursing, which were used for the first time this year.
The NFU welcomed the government’s announcement, in April, of a new rural crime strategy, including tougher measures to crack down on equipment theft, sheep worrying and fly-tipping and is pushing for more powers to tackle thefts of GPS equipment, following a sharp rise across the country.
Essex police say:
"We are committed to tackling all forms of crime across Essex and have a rural engagement team who connect with our rural communities, including farmers and agricultural workers, to keep farms and estates safe."
"We work with many partners to target crimes which specifically affect rural communities and businesses, including hare coursing and poaching, and the theft of agricultural vehicles and machinery".
Inspector Terry Jacobs says the Rural Engagement Team (RET) was set up in 2017 specifically to connect with rural communities.