Author: Sonali

Introduction

Congratulations are due to Baroness Minette Batters for undertaking a comprehensive review of UK Farming Profitability and for publishing a Report with such meticulous detail. The breadth and depth of the analysis are impressive, and while I do not possess the necessary qualifications or experience to evaluate most of the report’s content, I am keen to listen to, and learn from, the perspectives of those with practical experience in this area.

An Overlooked Factor: Rural Crime and Adversarial Risk

Despite the thoroughness of the report, I wish to draw attention to a significant omission that adversely affects the profitability of today’s farming businesses: the marked increase in adversarial risk, specifically the rise in crime within our rural communities. The escalation of criminal activities—described here as “bad people doing bad things”—poses a genuine threat to the day-to-day operations and long-term sustainability of farms.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Farm Profitability

Maslow’s psychological motivational theory identifies a five-tier hierarchy of needs, where basic physiological requirements such as air, water, food, and shelter form the foundation. The second level is ‘safety’, which encompasses personal security, access to resources, health, and protection of property. If farmers do not feel safe, or if their land, equipment, livestock, and agricultural data are persistently targeted by criminals, it becomes increasingly difficult—arguably impossible—for farm businesses to remain profitable.

The Need for a Strategic Response

This raises an important question: Should the report advocate for a government-led strategy specifically aimed at reducing rural crime? While the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has recently introduced a police Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy, this initiative falls short by failing to sufficiently engage key stakeholders such as farmers, the private security sector, the agricultural supply chain, and those involved in land management education.

Beyond Policing: A Holistic Approach to Rural Security

Relying solely on policing will not deliver the safe, secure, and resilient farm businesses that the sector requires. A more holistic approach is needed—one that addresses both the likelihood of criminal activity occurring and the impact of such incidents should they take place. Only by tackling both sides of the adversarial risk can we hope to protect the profitability and sustainability of our rural enterprises.

Modern farming already recognises a simple truth: specialist risks require specialist advice. This is why agronomists are engaged to protect crop health and productivity, and veterinarians are relied upon to safeguard animal welfare and biosecurity. Rural crime presents a risk of equal significance—one that threatens not only assets, but operational continuity, safety, confidence, and long‑term viability.

Engaging a rural crime reduction consultant follows the same proven logic farmers already trust in crop and livestock management.

Avoidance is Best: The Same “Pre‑Emergence” Thinking Farmers Already Use

Agronomists assess soil health, nutrient balance, and pest occurrence before crops emerge, reducing the likelihood of yield loss. Vets implement immunisation and biosecurity measures before disease outbreaks occur, reducing the probability of illness spreading through a herd.

A rural crime consultant applies this same pre‑emergence discipline to crime risk.

Through structured farm‑security assessments, crime trend analysis, and vulnerability mapping, a crime reduction consultant identifies weak points before they are exploited—whether that is machinery storage, fuel security, livestock movement, access routes, or patterns of activity on the farm. This directly mirrors how agronomists and vets reduce likelihood rather than reacting only after damage has been done.

Just as farmers would not wait for crop failure or disease before seeking advice, relying solely on reactive crime response leaves the business exposed to avoidable loss.

Reducing Consequences: Professional Response when Incidents do Occur

Even with the best reduction measures, incidents still happen. Farmers understand this clearly in animal health: when illness or injury occurs, vets provide rapid diagnosis, treatment, and recovery planning to limit harm and restore productivity.

Crime reduction consultants play an equivalent post‑incident role.

They support victims, coordinate effective responses, and conduct root‑cause analysis to avoid repeat incidents. By strengthening detection and response measures —aligned with the deter, detect, delay, and respond protective security principles— they reduce the consequence and impact of crime on the farm business, staff wellbeing, and community confidence.

This structured response ensures crime is treated as a managed risk, not an unavoidable cost of rural life.

Crime is a Business Risk—Not Just a Policing Issue

Agronomists are not replacing farmers; they are enhancing decision‑making with specialist insight. Vets do not remove responsibility for animal care; they strengthen it with expertise.

In the same way, a crime reduction consultant does not replace police involvement. Instead, they translate crime reduction into practical, proportionate, and affordable actions that fit the realities of a working farm. Their role is to protect productivity, assets, and people—just as other rural specialists already do.

A Logical Extension of Professional Farm Management

Farmers already invest in expertise to protect:

• Crop yield and soil performance (agronomists)
• Animal health and welfare (veterinarians)

Engaging a crime reduction consultant simply completes the picture by protecting:

A farmer’s home and family.	Farm infrastructure and equipment.
Staff safety & wellbeing.	Farm machinery, materials, and livestock.
Agri-business resilience.	Farm operations and business continuity.

And ultimately, helps the farmer to deliver the national food security supply chain.

When viewed through the same risk‑management lens, crime reduction consultancy is not an optional extra—it is a logical and responsible extension of modern, professional farming practice.

Note to editors:

Rural Safeguard is UK’s first, commercially available, national programme designed to reduce rural crime before it happens. We introduced farmers, growers, land manager, and rural communities to the security sector and share best practise currently on offer to other industrial sectors. This helps to protect livelihoods, strengthen food security, a makes the countryside a safer place for all.

Website: https://ruralsafeguard.com/  

E-mail: frank.cannon@ruralsafeguard.com

Farm assurance schemes are built on a clear principle: identified risks must be actively managed using competent advice, proportionate controls, and documented review. Farmers already demonstrate this approach through the routine engagement of safety advisors, agronomists, and veterinarians to safeguard people, protect crop performance, animal welfare, biosecurity, and compliance.

Rural crime represents a material risk to farm businesses that aligns directly with these same assurance principles and therefore requires the same professional, structured approach.

Risk Identification and Assessment

Agronomists assess soil condition, nutrient balance, and pest pressure to identify risks to crop establishment and yield. Vets assess herd health, disease vectors, and welfare indicators to identify risks to livestock performance and compliance.

A rural crime reduction consultant fulfils an equivalent risk identification role for crime and security.

Through structured farm‑security assessments, crime trend analysis, and vulnerability mapping, a crime reduction consultant identifies threats (types of criminals) and crime risks (likelihood and impact of crime) to property, infrastructure, livestock, staff safety, and operational continuity before incidents occur. This mirrors the safety assurance requirement to identify hazards proactively rather than relying on reactive action.

Avoidance Controls (Risk Likelihood Reduction)

Farm assurance places strong emphasis on controls that reduce the risk:

• Agronomists advise on pre‑emergence nutrition, rotation, and pest management to reduce the likelihood of crop failure.
• Vets implement vaccination programmes, biosecurity protocols, and herd‑health plans to reduce the likelihood of disease outbreaks.
• Safety consultants suggest mitigations to reduce health and safety hazards before the injury occurs.

Crime reduction consultancy applies the same reduction, pre‑emergence control logic to rural crime risk.

A crime reduction consultant advises on proportionate and affordable measures to deter, detect and delay criminals —such as farm layout, access control, asset protection, and behavioural practices—designed to reduce the probability of criminal activity affecting the farmyard. This demonstrates that crime risk is being actively managed in line with assurance expectations.

Monitor, Detect, and Evolve

Farm assurance requires evidence of ongoing monitoring:

• Crops are inspected for emerging pest or disease pressure.
• Livestock are routinely observed for early signs of illness or welfare concerns.
• Farmyards and operating procedures are frequently reviewed to identify hazards dangerous to health and wellbeing.

Crime reduction consultants support equivalent monitoring and detection measures to identify defensive gaps that a criminal will exploit. These controls ensure that suspicious activity, emerging vulnerabilities, or changing crime patterns are identified early, allowing corrective action before losses escalate. This demonstrates continual risk awareness that helps evolve farm defences rather than static cookie-cut compliance.

Incident Management and Corrective Action (Consequence Reduction)

Assurance frameworks recognise that not all incidents can be prevented and require clear incident response and corrective action processes:

• Vets provide rapid diagnosis, treatment, and recovery planning following illness or injury.
• Agronomists advise remedial action following crop damage or disease outbreaks.
• Accident investigators recommend safety precautions to prevent repeat events.

Crime reduction consultants provide an equivalent post‑incident management function to identify improvement opportunities to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

They support victims, assist with incident management, and conduct structured root‑cause analysis to identify why controls failed and what improvements are required. This ensures that incidents lead to documented learning, corrective action, and reduced likelihood of recurrence—core assurance expectations.

Continuous Improvement and Business Resilience

Farm assurance is not solely about compliance; it is about continuous improvement, resilience, and sustainability. The goal is to pass on the farm in a better shape than you received it.

Engaging a rural crime reduction consultant demonstrates that the farm treats crime as:

• A managed business risk.
• Subject to professional oversight.
• Integrated into wider health, welfare, and safety systems.

This approach protects not only physical assets but also staff wellbeing, operational continuity, and confidence—key indicators of a resilient, professionally managed farm business.

Crime Risk Management as an Assurance Function

Farmers already demonstrate assurance compliance by investing in specialist advice to protect:

• Crop health and yield (agronomists).
• Animal health, welfare, and biosecurity (veterinarians).
• Staff safety, health, and wellbeing (HSE advisors).

Engaging a rural crime reduction consultant completes this framework by creating affordable solutions to protect:

A farmer’s home and family.	Farm infrastructure and equipment.
Staff safety & wellbeing.	Farm machinery, materials, and livestock.
Agri-business resilience.	Farm operations and business continuity.

When assessed against farm assurance principles—risk identification, control that reduce, hazard awareness, incident response, and continuous improvement—crime reduction consultancy is not an optional addition. It is a logical, proportionate, and assurance‑aligned extension of modern farm management.

How valuable would it be to include the following crime risk assurance declaration in your agricultural business prospectus:

“ This farm manages rural crime as a foreseeable business risk using a planned, predictive, affordable, and proportionate approach, supported by competent specialist advice and integrated into our wider health, welfare, safety, and continuous improvement systems. We advocate operational excellence.”

Word count: 812.

Note to editors:

Rural Safeguard is UK’s first, commercially available, national programme designed to reduce rural crime before it happens. We introduced farmers, growers, land manager, and rural communities to the security sector and share best practise currently on offer to other industrial sectors. This helps to protect livelihoods, strengthen food security, a makes the countryside a safer place for all.

Website: https://ruralsafeguard.com/  

E-mail: frank.cannon@ruralsafeguard.com

Frank Cannon CSyP, Programme Director for Rural SafeGuard™ a rural crime reduction initiative.

Current Challenges in British Farming

A recent survey has revealed troubling figures for British agriculture: a third of farmers are either making a loss or barely breaking even, with only a small proportion achieving a profit margin of 10% or more. This is highlighted in the inaugural UK Farmdex^[2] Report by McCain Foods, which surveyed 200 farmers in July and found widespread pessimism within the industry.

Over half of those surveyed are contemplating leaving farming entirely.

The industry has been hit hard by a prolonged drought and extreme heat, severely impacting crop yields, particularly for arable farmers. These problems are compounded by sharp reductions in subsidies following Brexit and the introduction of inheritance tax for farms valued at £1 million or more. The report notes that nearly a third of these high-value farms are also only breaking even or running at a loss. This situation raises serious concerns about the future of British farming and the government’s ability to achieve food security—ensuring enough safe, nutritious, and affordable food for the domestic market and boosting exports.

Expert Perspectives: Charlotte Smith

Charlotte Smith[3], presenter of the BBC Country File and Farming Today programmes, highlights three main issues affecting farmers: the weather, global commodity prices, and changes to government support. England recently saw its second worst cereal harvest on record, with vegetable yields also badly affected due to insufficient water. These conditions have cost some farms hundreds of thousands of pounds. Global commodity prices remain low despite poor UK harvests because of strong yields elsewhere, preventing UK farmers from benefitting from higher prices. In addition, significant changes in government support—especially the inheritance tax—have created anxiety and uncertainty, impacting succession planning within farming families. Hopes in the farming community that the government might revisit the inheritance tax policy were recently dashed when the farming minister confirmed there would be no changes in the upcoming budget.

Impact of Subsidy Changes

Subsidy arrangements have also changed dramatically. While Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are still receiving EU-style payments as they develop their own systems, England has moved more quickly to a system where public money is only given for public goods. The direct farmer payment has been almost completely phased out, a process accelerated in the last budget. Previously, subsidy payments could amount to over half a farmer’s income, but this support has now virtually disappeared in England, severely affecting farm incomes. Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) were introduced as a replacement, but the scheme is currently closed to new applicants due to a lack of funds.

Voices from the Farming Community

• Ollie Harrison[4], an arable farmer near Liverpool, expresses deep frustration and exhaustion after two years of extreme weather—ranging from a wet harvest with no sunlight to a year of intense heat resulting in poor crop quality. He points out that subsidies are essential to buffer farmers against unpredictable weather, and without them, many will leave the industry rather than risk their family homes. Diversification has helped his farm survive, but he warns that the withdrawal of environmental payments will soon leave many farmers with no support at all, threatening the nation’s self-sufficiency in food. Harrison criticises the government for not understanding or valuing agriculture, and for perpetuating the myth of farmers as wealthy landowners, when in reality farms are assets for future generations, not sources of personal wealth.

• Duncan McAllister[5], a beef farmer on the Mull of Kintyre and vice president of the National Farmers Union in Scotland, agrees that weather is a constant concern for farmers. Confidence and profitability are closely linked, and currently, a lack of profits is preventing reinvestment in farms across the UK. While beef prices have recently improved due to a global shortage, the sector has suffered from decades of poor trading conditions, and a few good years are not enough to secure the industry’s future.

• Philip, a cereal farmer from West Yorkshire, reports that the price for crops such as wheat is the same as it was thirty years ago, while costs for machinery, bread, and fuel have risen dramatically. The need to comply with strict quality and safety standards for domestic sales drives up costs, while imported products are not always held to the same standard, creating an uneven playing field.

Policy and the Future

Some contributors, such as John from North Yorkshire, argue that the government must make a political decision to support farming and food production, but in an environmentally responsible manner. He observes a strong demand for advisory services to help farmers access new environmental schemes but criticises the current suspension of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The design of new subsidy schemes in England is robust but must be implemented and funded properly.

Rural Life and Changing Realities

Brenda Hocroft from North Manchester reflects on her farming upbringing, noting that although farming has always been hard, it has become much tougher recently. Farms have become smaller and less viable as sole sources of income, leading many to diversify into other work—ranging from contract work and groundworks to installing solar panels and even running restaurants. Despite the idyllic nature of her childhood, she doubts if modern farmers can sustain the same lifestyle, given the financial and practical challenges they now face.

END OF RADIO SHOW SUMMARY

So why is Rural SafeGuard™ Sharing this Public Facing Conversation

As discussed in Jeremy’s show, farmers face significant stress already, so we aim to help them reduce rural crime that further harms their success.

Reducing Rural Crime

There will be few UK farmers who haven’t been affected by rural crime in some form. The sliding scale is huge, from petty theft and vandalism to livestock rustling and industrial-scale fly tipping by organised gangs.

Optimal Risk Group[6] have created this rural crime reduction programme to suggest solutions for how agricultural businesses across the nation can be safer and secure.

The company offers practical advice in risk management and security for businesses of all sizes with extensive technical expertise, comprehensive market knowledge, and highly specialised training courses to keep businesses across multiple industrial sectors safe, including agriculture.

A pioneer in the security and risk management industry with a national presence spanning over 25 years, Optimal Risk Group is looking to tackle rural crime head on with their structured national programme, Rural SafeGuard™.

Described as a knowledge sharing programme to raise awareness about and reduce rural crime, Rural SafeGuard™ equips farmers and landowners with the skills, knowledge and training needed to safeguard their people, property, and machines from organised and opportunistic crime.

For over 40 years, Senior Consultant Frank Cannon[7] has been providing guidance and advice as a security specialist, and one of five Chartered Security Professionals[8] in the Rural SafeGuard™ programme. He and his team are bringing their expertise to the Uk agricultural sector.

“We are disrupters in the agricultural crime reduction area, as hitherto, our farmers and landowners have expected the police to look after their businesses,” says Frank. “We’re attending this year’s Midlands Machinery Show because it’s a great way to meet and talk to the farmers who are concerned about the safety of their business, and to show the farming community that we have the expertise and advice for them to address the rural crime challenges that they face.”

Optimal Risk is looking to build a public-private partnership to bridge the capability gap between police and rural communities and closely collaborate with police rural crime teams while using proven risk management solutions adapted from other sectors.

“For those farmers who own, operate, or lease out agricultural machines, our Rural SafeGuard™ programme introduces a commercially available certification pathway that recognises secure farms and estates, reassuring owners, deterring offenders, and unlocking potential security advantages.”

Having spent all year researching the attack methods of the organised crime groups and developing effective solutions, Frank sees 2026 as a great opportunity to shine a light on the crime related issues that rural communities face, such as the mismatch between levels of rural crime and the policing and business resources assigned to address it. He is looking forward to sharing the affordable and proportionate solutions that Rural SafeGuard™ can bring to farmers.

“With the support of our partners, the Rural SafeGuard™ programme is a leading example of how we work together to help British farmers develop their risk management skills to withstand crime across our countryside.

“We don’t just help farmers react to crime; we help them to reduce the opportunity for it to happen in the first place.”

You can reach out to frank by e-mailing him on: frank.cannon@ruralsafeguard.com

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[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002l831   

[2] https://www.mccain.com/information-centre/news/uk-farmdex-report-reveals-crisis-in-farming-51-of-farmers-considering-leaving-the-industry-but-signs-of-hope-remain/

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/3Nnfpwp9CtjJj6sz5TBrZqc/charlotte-smith     

[4] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2K8QmHQq3LLphq5XwbxHhA          

[5] https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/24914044.find-nfus-vp-candidate-duncan-macalister/           

[6] https://optimalrisk.com/                 

[7] https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-cannon-csyp-cpp/?originalSubdomain=uk          

[8] https://www.charteredsecurityprofessional.org/  

​A response to Harper Adams University Rural Criminology Policy Note #1 entitled: 

​Factors Affecting Rural Community Confidence in the Police 

​ Dr. Kreseda Smith, a leading rural criminologist at Harper Adams University, offers valuable insights in this inaugural Rural Criminology Policy Note entitled: Factors Affecting Rural Community Confidence in the Police. This academic study was centred on the West Mercia Police force area.  

​This is a response from the Programme Director at Rural SafeGuard, a commercially available crime reduction initiative that focussed on rural communities and forms part of the adversarial risk management services offered by the Optimal Risk Group.  

​The conversations that Rural SafeGuard have with farmers during agricultural events and county shows reveal that the views reported by Dr Kreseda are broadly shared across England and Wales. 

​Rural SafeGuard believe that most folk in the countryside recognise that dedicated rural community police officers are passionate and committed to making rural communities safer. Yet they often encounter challenges such as limited resources, frequent reassignment to higher priority tasks, and difficulty matching the speed and coordination of organised rural crime groups. 

​Nomadic organised crime groups take advantage of weaknesses in the UK policing system. In this paper, Kreseda, after speaking with farmers and rural residents, highlights the need for standardised criminal incident reporting, improved training for neighbourhood police to identify and gather evidence on agricultural crime, and better responses to issues like hare-coursing, fly tipping, and machinery theft, which disproportionately affect rural areas. 

​Despite repeated calls for increased funding for rural police forces, such support rarely materialises. Is it the case that society often expects too much from limited police resources, asking them to tackle a wide range of issues—from violence against women and children, retail theft, anti-social behaviour, knife crime, and terrorism. More recent crime types, including those perpetrated online and in the digital space, together with the increased policing of ideology-based protest and public safety around sporting and community events. As demands grow, police capacity is increasingly stretched, making it impossible for them to meet every expectation. The police just cannot deliver all things to all people. 

​Should rural policing adopt strategies common in urban areas? Where commercial security supports public policing and helps local authorities meet their responsibility to provide safe environments for people to live, work, rest, and play? 

​Many towns and cities establish Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), which involve licensed private security providers patrolling public spaces and responding to incidents before uniformed police officers arrive. These arrangements facilitate integrated teams of police and private security personnel, ensuring capable guardians are present to protect individuals and property susceptible to unlawful activities. 

This approved and organised public safety capability may go some way to filling the perceived gap that may otherwise be addressed through vigilantes taking matters into their own hands. Numerous farmers, rural-based membership bodies, and agricultural sector lobby-groups have all recently cautioned against a foreseeable outcome whereby a farmer or perpetrator dies unnecessarily due to a criminal activity within our rural communities.

A key issue shared by acquisitive crimes in cities and rural communities is the absence of effective deterrents. As highlighted to Dr Kreseda, there are problems such as police not arriving quickly enough to catch offenders and insufficient resources to gather evidence needed for convictions or punishments that would discourage future criminal activity. Organised crime groups and some local youths seem unconvinced that current policing or the judiciary deter crime.

As a result, rural communities need to strengthen security around farms to reduce criminal activity. Serious criminals, while organised, often target places that are easier and less effort for them.

 Theft requires a thief, a target (property), and an opportunity – this is known as the ‘theft-triangle’. Farmers and land managers can reduce theft by routinely adopting resilient practices, like making property difficult to access and using barriers to reduce unauthorised vehicles from entering the yard. These simple measures lower the risk of theft and minimise post-incident workload for victims and police.

Rural SafeGuard focus on promoting affordable crime reduction solution, raising awareness of foreseeable crime risk, and reducing complacency. Unlike other UK sectors that hire security advisors or consultants, agriculture often relies on police to provide safety for homes, workplaces, livestock, and equipment.

It’s uncommon for a neighbourhood police officer to patrol a Tesco superstore or its car park to protect stock on the shelves or vehicles in the park. So why do farmers expect police officers in remote rural areas to safeguard livestock in the field or a tractor in the barn?

There will be few Midland Machinery Show attendees who haven’t been affected by rural crime in some form.  

The sliding scale is huge, from petty theft and vandalism, to livestock rustling and industrial-scale fly tipping by organised gangs.  

Optimal Risk Group says it will be using this year’s event to suggest solutions for how agricultural businesses across the region can be more safe and secure. 

The company offers practical advice in risk management and security for businesses of all sizes with extensive technical expertise, comprehensive market knowledge, and highly specialised training courses to keep businesses across the industries safe, including agriculture. 

A pioneer in the security and risk management industry with a national presence spanning over 25 years, Optimal Risk Group is looking to tackle rural crime head on with their structured national programme, Rural SafeGuard, which will be the primary talking point on the show stand this year. 

Described as a knowledge sharing programme to raise awareness about and reduce rural crime, Rural SafeGuard equips farmers and foresters with the skills, knowledge and training needed to safeguard their people, property, and machines from organised and opportunistic crime. 

For over 40 years, Senior Consultant Frank Cannon has been providing guidance and advice as a security specialist, and one of five Chartered Security Professionals in the Rural SafeGuard programme. He and his team are bringing their expertise to the Midlands Machinery Show. 

“We are disrupters in the agricultural crime reduction area, as hitherto, our farmers and landowners have expected the police to look after their businesses,” says Frank. “We’re attending this year’s Midlands Machinery Show because it’s a great way to meet and talk to the farmers who are concerned about the safety of their business, and to show the farming community that we have the expertise and advice for them to address the rural crime challenges that they face.” 

Optimal Risk is looking to build a public-private partnership to bridge the capability gap between police and rural communities and closely collaborate with police rural crime teams while using proven risk management solutions adapted from other sectors. 

“For those who own, operate, or lease out agricultural machines, our Rural SafeGuard programme introduces a commercially available certification pathway that recognises secure farms and estates, reassuring owners, deterring offenders, and unlocking potential security advantages.” 

Frank sees the Midlands Machinery Show as a great opportunity to shine a light on not only the issues that rural communities face, such as the mismatch between levels of rural crime and the resources assigned to address it, but also what solutions that Rural SafeGuard can bring to farmers. 

“With the support of our partners, the Rural SafeGuard programme is a leading example of how we work together to help British farmers develop their risk management skills to withstand crime across our countryside. 

“We don’t just help farmers react to crime; we help them to reduce the opportunity for it to happen in the first place.”