Shropshire Farming Talk: Better protection needed for Shropshire farms
The NFU is calling for better protection for Shropshire farms following an increase in GPS system and other equipment theft.
National Rural Crime Action Week ends on Sunday but has helped to highlight the challenges rural businesses face.
Our call for action follows months of collaboration between the NFU, government and other key industry organisations, which led to the passing of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act, aimed at deterring the theft of quads and ATVs.
The NFU is now asking for the act to be expanded to include other agricultural equipment such as GPS systems.
We work closely with Shropshire police officers and others and we have seen some real results - strengthening legislative powers remains important to help officers combat rural crime.
Now we need to see secondary legislation passed to widen the scope of the Act so it includes other equipment, such as larger machinery or GPS systems.
We also want to see the fulfilment of commitments to prevent livestock worrying.
People in our rural communities know what seems out of the ordinary or not quite right and they too play a crucial part in working with the police to help make communities safer.
We would urge people to report incidents to the police so we can gather intelligence and build up a firm picture of the problems and threats to our family farms and rural communities.
By Oliver Cartwright, Shropshire NFU
