Plant theft amounts to millions of pounds of damage every year, with tractors, notably the JCB, being the most stolen piece of machinery. However, while many plant owners primarily focus on implementing security systems to prevent their vehicles from being stolen, such as video surveillance or physical barriers. These systems are effective, however, once your equipment is stolen there is no chance of ever retrieving it again. Instead plant owners should implement plant tracking systems, so they can locate the exact position of your stolen equipment, using GPS systems and mobile notifications. So you can call the authorities as quickly as possible.

What Is A Plant Tracker?

Farm tracking equipment allows you to receive real-time alerts when vehicles, or equipment, are removed from your site, and this therefore significantly increases the chances that you’ll recover your machinery in the event of theft. Thus you can get back to working at full capacity faster, and minimise your loss of earnings after your period of down-time.

All tractors, including basic ones, are specifically designed to report the location of your agricultural vehicles. Effectively all you need to do is log onto the tracking system online, via a mobile or PC, and pinpoint the location of your tractor. If you‘ve ever used the iphone app ‘find my friends’, then these tracking systems are very similar to this. Using the online mapping system you will be able to locate your tractor quickly and efficiently. Therefore should your tractor ever get stolen, simply present your coordinates to the authorities, and they can retrieve your stolen property immediately.

Advanced Plant Tracking Systems

The tracking device can often vary in functionality, with cheaper ones having very basic features, while more complex ones have significantly advanced features to reduce plant theft.

First of all its important the you configure your plant tracking systems to alert the plant owner via a phone call, text message, or e-mail, once your vehicle leaves the site. Furthermore, this can be used to signal the authorities.

In addition, plant tracking systems can be used to remotely shutdown vehicles. For example, if one of your tractors has been stolen, you wouldn’t be able to use it until the police found it for you. However, suppose you got a notification that your vehicle was being moved without your permission, you could simply shut down your vehicle immediately. This is probably going to unsettle the professional criminal, and your security team can then go and recover it.

Finally, while implementing security systems is important, most stolen vehicles are quickly stripped and sold on within a few days. The best way to counter this is to locate your tractor via plant tracking systems. Prevention is simply not enough nowadays, you must also come up with an effective strategy, once your vehicles have been stolen.