Farm Crime in England and Wales: Results of a Farmer Survey Identifying the Attitudes of Farmers

• In Event: Criminology of Food and Agriculture PART I (Farm Victimisation)

Abstract

Farms stand apart from other rural businesses in the levels of crimes they experience, and the impact of farm crime reverberates far beyond the immediate rural community. However there continues to be a lack of interest in farm crime as a research topic in England and Wales.
This study identifies attitudes of farmers towards farm crime, crime prevention, the police and insurers. An online survey was completed by 71 farmers; a further 55 farmers partially completed the survey, which provided important additional data.
An analysis of the survey results shows low levels of confidence in and reporting to the police, mixed levels of crime prevention usage, and varying potential predictors of victimization compared to international research.
This survey extends existing farm crime research and bring together several disparate aspects into one place to establish farmers' attitudes towards crime prevention, the police, and how these attitudes and farm characteristics, relate to victimization levels. This lays the foundations for further research and the introduction of behavioral economics into the farm crime prevention arena.

Author

• Kreseda Smith, Harper Adams University