The new law will require all new ATVs and GPS units to have forensic markings to crack down on rural machine theft. This is a major victory for the industry after years of campaigning.
The move comes as agricultural vehicle and GPS equipment thefts across the UK are increasingly linked to organized crime targeting rural areas.
The Government approved the measure in response to a Home Office request for evidence on the extension of the Equipment Theft Act, which will become law in 2023.
The original law gave ministers the power to introduce regulations to stop the theft and resale of agricultural machinery such as four-wheel drive vehicles and ATVs.
In its latest response, the government announced it will introduce new regulations to parliament this year that will require all new ATVs and GPS units to be forensically marked and registered in a real estate database.
The NFU has worked closely with Mid-Buckinghamshire MP Greg Smith and the National Rural Crime Agency to develop the legislation.
NFU vice president Rachel Harross said: “Rural crime continues to be a major problem for our members and we welcome the Government’s recognition of its devastating consequences in the secondary equipment theft legislation.”
Mr Harros welcomed the government’s recognition of the scale of the problem, but warned that an important opportunity to strengthen the law was being missed.
“Former Minister for Police and Crime Prevention Dame Diana Johnson’s comments at the NFU Summer Reception earlier this year that there is still more work to be done in tackling machine theft ring true today,” she said.
“Including removable GPS units in the legislation is a positive step forward, especially as GPS theft is still on the rise, with losses exceeding £4 million last year according to NFU Mutual’s latest report.”
However, he said the government has not included a requirement for immobilizers on new ATVs or extended protection to GPS units integrated with large agricultural vehicles and machinery.
Since the Equipment Theft Act went into effect, the industry has repeatedly called for mandatory registration of ATVs and high-value farm equipment, along with prescribed standards for tracking, forensic marking, and immobilizer technology to improve the recovery of stolen assets.
The Government’s response confirmed that the new secondary legislation will not cover these measures.
“While progress has been made, this response feels like a missed opportunity to provide meaningful deterrence to organized crime networks targeting our sector,” Haros added.
The NFU said it would continue to lobby for stronger security requirements in future legislation, such as equipping new ATVs with immobilizers and extending rules to larger agricultural machinery.
Mr Harros said that while forensic marking was welcomed as a deterrent, more comprehensive measures were still needed to protect farmers and rural businesses from increasingly sophisticated criminal activity.
With rural machinery theft costing farmers millions of pounds each year, the union said it would monitor how the new rules were implemented and continue to call for far-reaching reforms to keep pace with evolving rural crime.
