Seeing a John Deere 6630 tractor equipped as a marked police vehicle isn’t exactly an ordinary sight. But farmers in eastern England have noticed one patrolling their neighbourhoods recently. It’s not chasing down speeders on local highways. Instead, the “crop car,” as it has been dubbed by Lincolnshire police, has been attending a variety of agricultural events in that county to highlight the growing problem of machinery theft.
“The tractor looks a bit of fun, but its purpose is to capture the public’s attention and deliver the message that we take rural crime very seriously,” says chief inspector Phil Vickers of the Lincolnshire police. “We recognize that when a working vehicle is stolen, it has a massive impact on businesses and livelihoods.” That impact on a farmer’s ability keep an operation going at a critical time could be the most serious problem facing producers who are victims of machinery theft, both in Europe and here.
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While tractors in the United Kingdom may be vanishing at an increasing rate, just how big a problem is farm machinery theft here, on the Prairies? According to Richard Frost, a loss prevention consultant for national accounts and associations at Federated Insurance, Canadian farmers and equipment dealers are certainly not immune to the problem.
Recovery is Rare
“Federated Insurance had 320 theft claims reported over the last five years,” he says. “Considering our ratio of (insured) equipment dealers to farmers, thefts occur slightly more often at dealerships than farms. The losses are primarily with small equipment (i. e. garden and lawn, ATV, quad, skid steers) and tractors.”
And the worst news is out of those 320 machines reported stolen, only 21 were ever recovered. “Smaller equipment is targeted more often because of demand and the ease of stealing, transporting and hiding the equipment,” he adds. “Tractors are being stolen because of their value and versatility. The average loss per incident for small equipment is $13,470. With tractors, the average loss per incident is $30,580.” There is a lot of money at stake.
Police in Lincolnshire, England are using this donated John Deere 6630 as their “crop car.” Painted as a marked police vehicle, the tractor is putting in appearances at agricultural events to draw attention to the problem of farm equipment theft.
It’s important to remember this is only one of several insurance companies covering farmers and dealers; the overall number of incidents across the provinces is actually much higher than 320. All of which means even though the problem here may not have reached the same level it has in the UK, there is no reason for farmers to feel complacent about security. The days of leaving equipment at the edge of the field with keys in the ignition and being confident it will be there the next morning are over.
Take Precautions
While it may not be necessary to take as many theft precautions on the farm as you would when leaving your pickup in the parking lot of a mall on a trip to the city, Frost recommends farmers at least cover the basics. “Similar loss prevention techniques can be used for protecting small or large equipment,” he says.
Those precautions include parking equipment inside whenever possible. But that’s clearly not always feasible, especially when machines need to be left in fields. In those cases, Frost recommends immobilizing them by disconnecting batteries or some other method. And installing a tracking device will make it much more likely a machine can be located if it goes missing. Factory installed telematics systems like AGCO’s AgCOMMAND can reveal a machine’s location via GPS, even several hours after the transmitter has been disconnected from the main batteries.
If your equipment isn’t new enough to have a system like that, companies like Longview Advantage of Alberta offer a system that can be retrofitted into any machine or vehicle. “We offer a device that will find a machine once it’s stolen,” says Bill Quinney, Longview Advantage’s president. “It communicates that information back to the website by cell phone or satellite.”
Installing one of these devices can be a do-it-yourself project for most farmers. “Just hook it up to the battery and install the antenna,” he says.
The Longview system current- ly retails for $800, but Quinney says the company will introduce a more economical model that it hopes to retail through farm machinery dealers early in the new year. It will sell for about $500 and monthly cell access costs will only be about $15.
He notes the company’s current model is frequently installed on skid steer loaders and has helped police recover a lot of them soon after being stolen. But farmers need not buy one system for every machine they own. Instead, one device can easily be transferred between different equipment and vehicles as needed. “If he (a farmer) has one piece that has to be out a lot, it can be installed temporarily,” says Quinney. “The devices are not hard to move (between machines).”
For more information on the Longview Advantage system, call 877-562-8287.
Who Owns That Tractor?
And having one of your own machines taken isn’t the only risk posed by thieves. You could unknowingly buy something that is stolen and loose your investment. John Schmeiser, executive vice president of the Canada West Equipment Dealers’ Association, says in order to help dealers avoid falling victim to this problem, his organization publishes a list of serial numbers for equipment stolen off of retailers’ lots in Canada. “We’re sending out one announcement every two weeks (to member dealers),” he says.
If you are considering making a private deal on a used piece of equipment, it may be a good idea to first copy down the serial number and contact your local police to ask them if it’s been reported stolen. You don’t want to find that out after you’ve already paid for it.
Remember the old adage: if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Those 299 missing machines stolen from Federated Insurance’s customers in the last few years — and many others — are still floating around out there.
