The inquiry is examining how police forces tackle criminal gangs operating across rural areas
Organised crime targeting British farms has come under parliamentary scrutiny, amid concerns over machinery theft, intimidation and the ability of police forces to tackle criminal gangs operating across rural communities.
The Home Affairs Committee examined the scale of serious and organised rural crime on Tuesday (13 October), questioning farming representatives, criminologists and senior policing figures about the threats facing agricultural businesses.
The hearing comes after the Home Office acknowledged that it cannot produce a single, nationally verified assessment of the extent to which organised criminal groups are responsible for offences affecting farms.
In a written parliamentary answer last month, the department confirmed that rural crime is not recorded as a distinct category within police statistics.
It recognised that organised gangs are involved in offences including agricultural machinery theft, livestock theft, fuel theft and the stealing of high-value farming equipment.
The lack of a comprehensive national assessment raises questions about how effectively authorities can identify emerging crime patterns and coordinate investigations across police force boundaries.
NFU vice-president Robyn Munt was among those appearing before MPs, alongside rural criminologists Dr Kate Tudor of Durham University and Dr Kreseda Smith of Harper Adams University.
The committee's investigation considered how organised criminals operate in rural areas, the challenges facing police forces covering large geographical regions and the effectiveness of existing approaches to tackling countryside offences.
The financial threat remains considerable. According to NFU Mutual's 2026 Rural Crime Report, rural crime cost an estimated £41.5 million in 2025, despite overall losses falling by 6% compared with the previous year.
However, the cost of quad bike and all-terrain vehicle theft increased by 31% to £3.5m, while agricultural vehicle theft claims rose by 18% to £8.3m.
Livestock theft costs also climbed by nearly 30%, reaching £4.5m.
The impact extends beyond the immediate financial losses, with some farmers changing how they operate or abandoning farming altogether following criminal incidents.
A survey of 119 NFU Mutual agents found that 29% had encountered farmers who had changed their farming practices or left the industry because of rural crime.
Meanwhile, 90% of agents surveyed believed their local rural crime teams required additional funding.
The parliamentary session also brought evidence from Andrew Huddleston, head of the National Rural Crime Unit, and police and crime commissioners David Allen and Donna Jones.
Their participation placed specialist policing capabilities and coordination between forces at the centre of the committee's examination.
The Home Office has committed more than £800,000 in combined funding to the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit during 2026/27.
The government says these specialist units provide intelligence, investigative support and coordination to help police forces identify and disrupt offenders operating across regional boundaries.
It has also pointed to the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy 2025–28, which identifies organised criminality, agricultural machinery theft and livestock theft as policing priorities.
However, questions remain over how effectively rural offences are recorded, whether specialist teams have sufficient resources and how criminal networks operating across multiple police areas can be brought to justice.
With organised theft continuing to threaten agricultural businesses, the parliamentary inquiry brings renewed attention to the effectiveness of the national response to rural crime and its consequences for farming families.