Farmers are being encouraged to take part in the government’s Commercial Victimisation Survey and record the nature, extent and costs of any crimes.
The Commercial Victimisation Survey looks at crime against businesses in England and Wales.
Agriculture has been reintroduced as part of the survey. It is now seen as an opportunity to make the government and the Home Office aware of the extent rural crime affecting farm businesses.
The farming industry has rallied around the government to take action on the "blight" of rural crime hitting the UK recently.
The NFU has warned in particular that farmers should not be seen as a 'soft target' for criminals.
The results of the survey are used to monitor crime trends, identify what actions need to be taken to reduce crime and find out what support would be most helpful to farm businesses.
'Make government aware'
NFU land management adviser Rupert Weaver said: “This survey is a perfect opportunity for farmers to make Government aware of the serious impacts rural crime poses to farm businesses.
“As the NFU has already highlighted in its Rural Crime Report, rural crime affects a huge number of farmers, affecting their business and family life.
“There is increasing fear in rural areas due to increasing crime, resulting in significantly lower than average satisfaction levels with the police.
“There is a lack of official statistics relating to rural crime, partly due to underreporting, and a significant response from the farming community could provide the relevant authorities with the data they need to act on this problem. The NFU would encourage all farmers who receive the survey to participate.”
Businesses randomly selected to take part in the survey, ran by the Home Office with independent researchers Ipsos Mori, will receive a letter and a subsequent phone call between September and December 2017 to conduct an interview.
