£50k of fungicide stolen days after farmers told of 62% rural crime rise in Scotland

A statement said: “As a consequence, we would like to ask farmers to check on the security of their storage sheds and compounds – particularly chemical stores – and should they see any persons acting suspiciously around them to call us immediately.”

It came as Scotland was revealed as the area hardest hit by rural crime in NFU Mutual’s Rural Crime Report, with claims costs up 62.2 per cent in 2018.

Then on Tuesday (August 6) a Honda quad bike was stolen in broad daylight from Hilltarvit Mains, near Cupar, in plain sight of the farmhouse.

The farmers, Ian Whiteford and his son, John, were only minutes away and just missed intercepting the hooded thieves on the one-mile long farm road.

Security

Mr Whiteford said: “They left a newer model which I think they guessed, correctly as it happens, would be fitted with a tracker.

“The quads are usually locked in the workshop but because we were using the building during the day, they were parked round the corner in the cattle shed.

“We are very security conscious but you cannot eternally be locking up every conceivable thing up. It is just bloody annoying.”