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Farm crime can be particularly devastating, not just for the business involved but for the wider community. The theft of livestock can mean years of work and investment building up a productive blood line wiped out and create potential health risks to the public, if the animals are subsequently slaughtered and sold illegally.
The theft of farm machinery increases the cost of food production with higher insurances premiums having to be absorbed. Arson involving out buildings and crops can lead to bankruptcy for the farmer and financial problems for suppliers and the local community. Even relatively low level crime such as fly tipping can cost the farmer tens of thousands of pounds to rectify.
Farms can be rich pickings for criminals and provide relatively easy targets which are accessible and often isolated. Adequate security is prohibitively expensive for large traits of land, which contributes to the easy in which criminals can locate and steal machinery, tools, livestock and vehicles.
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