We were the unfortunate victims earlier this month of the rural crime epidemic sweeping the country.

Our main farm was targeted in a well-organised robbery specifically to steal John Deere GPS equipment.

Despite having a well-lit yard with numerous security lights and a fairly comprehensive CCTV system, it was quite alarming how efficiently the GPS equipment was removed.

We lost a total of six Starfire 6000 receivers and two 4640 screens.

See also: Cereals 2023: OSR growers advised to delay harvest

About the author

David Fuller

David Fuller manages 3,500ha of medium sandy clays for McGregor Farms based at Coldstream, on both sides of the border. Cropping includes wheat, spring barley, winter barley and oilseed rape, spring beans and vining peas. Potatoes are farmed in collaboration with Greenvale AP.

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We are not alone in the locality to have had the misfortune of this type of robbery. It would appear there is an element of organised crime involvement, with sites being specifically targeted for their GPS equipment.

In all probability this is yet another unintended consequence of sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Thankfully, the criminals in our case didn’t cause any significant damage other than breaking through the side of a locked shed to access a tractor parked in there.

As with most large arable farms, we have become reliant on GPS systems for many applications, and the inconvenience caused was quite significant, especially as we were in the middle of T2 sprays on winter wheat.

We did however manage to cobble together enough hardware from machines parked off site to get the sprayers up and running by 11am on the day of the theft.

Suffice to say we have reviewed on-farm security and protocols and beefed up our security systems since this event.

Let’s hope the newly formed National Rural Crime Unit can make some urgently needed headway in curtailing these activities.

We were privileged recently to be asked to host six MSPs of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee who wanted our views of the current Common Agricultural Policy in Scotland and discuss future opportunities and challenges to our farming systems and what we would need from future farming policy.

The cross-party group were on farm for more than three hours and seemed very interested and keen to learn about how we farm. All in all, a productive meeting was had.

Hopefully, a workable agricultural policy will be published in the not-too-distant future to help gain some certainty in the sector.