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Figures published by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) indicate that the total cases of agricultural crime in NI last year increased by 1.2%.
Incidents of burglary, robbery and theft for agricultural-based activity in NI increased marginally from 553 cases in 2015 to 560 last year.
The figures show that almost 11 crimes relating to agriculture were reported each week to police in NI last year.
It is noteworthy that the figures do not take into account incidents of crime that go unreported to police.
The slight increase in agricultural crime rates follows on from two successive annual declines, with cases of agricultural crime falling by 16% in 2014 and by a further 26% in 2015.
Districts
Across policing districts, Armagh city, Banbridge and Craigavon district has historically had the highest number of cases of agricultural crime in NI.
“In these areas, we need the PSNI to respond to these statistics,” said Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) deputy president Ivor Ferguson.
Incidents of crime in rural areas across NI (not just agricultural crime) decreased by 6% from 6,379 cases in 2015 to 5,987 last year. Historic figures show that incidents of rural crime have fallen in each of the last five calendar years.
The Newry, Mourne and Down policy district continues to have the highest levels of rural crime in NI with 986 incidents in 2016, although this down from 1,110 in 2015.
Concerns
The UFU has raised concerns with the figures and said that rural areas and farmers remain “soft targets” for criminals.
The union has said that they understand that individual police officers do their best to engage with farmers, but that budgets for policing must recognise that rural areas remain exposed to crime.
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