'We have to fortify our fields'

By Victoria Bone
BBC News

This cow was unhurt when it jammed its head in a dumped washing machine

Farming at the best of times can be a tough way to make a living - long hours, marginal profits and hard physical labour.

But, increasingly, farmers have to contend with a host of other problems caused by crime and anti-social behaviour such as fly-tipping, issues more commonly associated with inner cities.

Thefts on English farms rose by 41% over the past year, with £18m of farm machinery like tractors and quad bikes stolen, new figures from insurers NFU Mutual show.

There was also more theft of red diesel and central heating oil.

It is a problem not helped by a decline in police resources in rural areas.

"Chief constables have been under a lot of pressure from government to meet very urban-centric targets," David Collins, the Association of Chief Police Officers lead on rural issues told the BBC News website.

Hazardous waste

Peter Clarke runs 125-acre Kingcup Farm in Buckinghamshire. It is less than 20 miles from the centre of London.

One of Mr Clarke's biggest problems is fly-tipping,.

"If it's dumped on my land it's my responsibility to get rid of it," he said.

We've got to act almost like a buffer between the settled and traveller communities David Collins Acpo lead on rural issue 'Big rise' in England farm thefts

"We've had burned out cars, 20-tonne loads of builders' rubbish. Sometimes it can be hazardous waste.

"We're also having increasing problems with people dumping their animals in our fields for the free grazing.

"It takes us about three weeks to get a court order and get rid of them and in that time they can eat a lot of my lettuces."

Blocked gateways

Mr Clarke also has problems with illegal encampments of caravans - the NFU says it costs, on average, about £2,000 to get them evicted each time.

"We've had to fortify our fields," he said.

"We've dug deep ditches around all of them and have to fill all our gateways with rubble to stop them getting in.

"Unfortunately we've got to get in and out so we have to move the rubble ourselves every day which is a real hassle. "They still get in and the police don't do anything, so we have to go to court ourselves to get them out."

As well as no end of worry, the problems of farming on the urban fringe also bring with them much higher costs.

"I reckon my costs are about 15% more than my counterparts in rural areas," Mr Clarke said.

Intimidation

Terry Jones, from the NFU, says that often farmers are scared to do anything about the problems they face.

"All over England and Wales we're seeing land being taken over and fodder stolen by horse owners.

"The law demands that individual farmers take action when this happens, but often they're being badly intimidated by the owners.

"Farmers put a brave face on it, but when it starts to involve their families it can get very serious. We've heard instances of farmers' young sons and daughters being threatened."

Illegal encampments of caravans cause huge headaches for farmers

Frank Grantham farms in West Sussex and also has an ongoing problem with fly-tippers. Dumped waste blocks the road to his farm and is a headache to get rid of.

"Right now I'm looking out the window at about eight HGV tyres, a pile of chippings and garden waste and some polythene," Mr Grantham said.

"We get about two or three big dumps every four months or so. Often it's fridges, freezers, televisions, household clearance stuff.

"Last year we had a couple of full bathroom suites dumped."

Farm watch

Like many farmers, Mr Clarke feels he doesn't get enough support from the authorities.

"It just not a high priority for the police," he said.

"The days of the rural police officer understanding rural affairs are largely over."

But Acpo's David Collins insisted fly-tipping was "higher on the agenda than it has been before".

"The economic decline means that many businesses don't want to pay for waste disposal. Similarly, you've got some very lazy people out there who think it's just an easy thing to do.

"Although it might not be the highest policing priority, it is a high neighbourhood priority which makes it our priority too."

Mr Collins said efforts were also being made to prevent theft.

It is up to the farmer to pay to have illegally dumped rubbish removed

"In rural environments, there's still a culture not to lock your doors, to leave your keys in the van.

"It's still a very trusting and open community and that makes it quite vulnerable to people who want to exploit it.

"We're working on setting up farm watch, rural watch, that sort of thing. We have got to look to the community to protect themselves."

He said dealing with traveller encampments was difficult because there was a risk that some complaints could be motivated by "intolerance and lack of understanding".

"We're encouraging local police officers to engage with travelling groups so they know we're there for them, but also that they have to abide by the law like any other citizen.

"We've got to act almost like a buffer between the settled and traveller communities."