Getting your hands dirty, connecting with nature and supplying quality produce to people around the world. There’s much to love about farming – whether it’s a massive working farm, or a small hobby one.
However, there’s a fair amount of risk involved too, especially when it comes to security. This article has some farm security tips for properties of all sizes. But first, what’s the challenge for farmers?
Farms are vulnerable to property crime:
Farms are an easy target for intruders – as it’s difficult for farmers to monitor buildings, livestock, plants and equipment that’s spread across acres of land.
You can only be in one place at once, after all.
Wait, isn’t that what cameras and alarms are for?
Yes, but mostly for urban properties (farms, not so much).
Farms have many hard-to-reach areas that cannot be accessed easily by surveillance systems that are connected to the electricity grid, because the cables don’t go that far (or are too expensive to install over vast land). Unfortunately, trespassers take full advantage of these blind spots. The National Farm Crime Survey found that 17% of surveyed farms were targeted by a crime in their 2002-03 survey. This was even more prevalent for remote farms, or farms larger than 5000 hectares.
What does this damage look like?
- Livestock theft
- Illegal hunting
- Stealing tools, machinery, fuel, vehicles, and equipment
- Illegal dumping of waste
- Vandalism attempts
- Activists trespassing
And the costs are high:
On NSW farms, for example, the theft of sheep and cattle cost farmers over $3.2 million in 2008, according to NSW Police.
Farmers spend thousands to millions of dollars on equipment, livestock, buildings and computer software. It would be devastating to lose even a fraction of this investment.
Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to protect your farm by deterring intruders; as well as holding them accountable if they do break in.
Some of this involves setting up a sophisticated security system, but there are other steps you can take too.
Farm security tips – how to protect your property:
Solar powered security cameras
Intruders are less likely to target properties with real security systems. We know this from interviews with detained burglars.
However, as previously mentioned, it’s difficult to monitor large areas with security cameras that use conventional energy sources (due to equipment logistics).
Thankfully sunshine is an abundant resource in Australia, and just what solar powered security cameras need to effectively monitor hard-to-reach places.
There’s no need for cables or a power grid.
How does it work?
Solar panels capture the sunlight, which is then converted into an electrical current that’s used by the camera and rechargeable batteries to constantly record and store CCTV footage in a central monitoring system.
This is all wireless, mind you. A Wi-Fi signal sends out an alert if there’s suspicious activity and authorised users can view live footage.
What happens if there’s no internet signal?
It doesn’t matter. The camera will still record footage and store it on the SD card for delayed viewing (you just won’t be able to view a live stream, or receive notifications).
What happens when there isn’t enough sunlight?
Again, it doesn’t matter.
The system still runs smoothly, even at night or on cloudy days – and with crystal clear vision too. This is because the rechargeable batteries store power (literally for a rainy day).
At Land Watch Australia, we specialise in wireless solar security cameras, so we could talk about this topic for days. However, we want to give you some other farm security tips too – separate from what we do.
Alarm systems
If you can, it’s a good idea to install alarms on buildings and storage sheds.
It’s fine to use conventional alarm systems for areas that have access to the power grid. Similarly, wireless alarms that require high speed internet work well in areas where the Wi-Fi signal is strong.
But if you’re located out in the sticks (far away from electricity or the internet), neither of these options will cut it for you.
In such cases, look for a wireless system that can operate without Wi-Fi or cellular signals. You may need to shop around a bit, as they’re not as readily available as other alarms, but do exist.