The NFU member said hare coursers have fired catapults at him, locked him in a shed on the farm and knocked him off his bicycle while driving past him on the road.
The arable farmer said hare coursers are on his farm almost every day and sometimes there are several incidents, involving different groups, on the same day.
Hare coursing is an illegal activity where criminals organise for dogs to chase hares over farmland for large bets of money, costing farmers thousands of pounds in damage to the land.
There have been media reports of recent hare coursing events in Essex being live streamed to gamblers in China.
The farmer, who is based in north-west Essex and wants to remain anonymous, estimates hare coursers have cost him tens of thousands of pounds in damage to crops and equipment.
Photo: Essex Police
'I have had some scary incidents'
He said: “Nobody goes out on the farm on their own now, we always go out in groups.
“I never confront them. I keep out of the way and call the police.
“They are nasty, violent people. I’ve had some scary incidents, including being barricaded into a shed, being shot at with catapults while driving my truck and being knocked off my bike.
“They are fearless and do not worry about being caught. Once they drove across my crops and held a hare coursing event right in front of me when I was out drilling.”
The farmer said the 198th incident of hare coursing on his farm since July took place on Sunday 5 April.
The farmer has erected gates, dug ditches, blocked entrances with cultivators and installed security cameras, to little effect. The cameras have been smashed.
Call for more police resources
He said: “The police rural engagement team does their best, but they are small team and Essex is a big, rural, county. They need more resources.”
The farmer believes a recent high profile hare coursing crackdown in neighbouring Cambridgeshire has contributed to a spike in incidents in Essex.
He said: “We have had hare coursing here for more than 20 years, but it has increased massively over the last year.
“With the spotlight on Cambridgeshire, many hare coursers have moved over to Essex.
“I get targeted because my farm is hidden out of the way and I have lots of hares on the farm. They are beautiful creatures and I hate to see them suffering like this.
“I know many other Essex farmers impacted by hare coursing.”
Essex Police response
Essex Police say there has been a national rise in hare coursing due to last year’s hot and dry summer which enabled farmers to harvest their crops early leaving the ground flat and bare, providing ideal conditions for hare coursers.
An Essex Police spokesperson said: “Our rural engagement officers have increased patrols in marked and unmarked police vehicles, in areas where hare coursing happens. We have also carried out intelligence-led patrols and use drones and thermal cameras.
“Since August 2025 we have seized seven vehicles, across the county, issued seven Community Protection Notices (CPNs), and five Community Protection Warnings (CPWs), with 12 individuals caught and dealt with.
“We are aware of one farm which has reported a high number of incidents. We worked with the farmer to install security measures, which enabled them to provide more evidence.
“We have increasingly encouraged the public to report hare coursing to us.
“We continue to take action where we have the evidence to do so. This includes seizing vehicles, seeking dog disqualification orders and issuing CPWs (community protection warnings) and CPNs (community protection notices), which place certain restrictions, such as not to be in a vehicle with any dog while outside a five-mile radius of their home address.
“We continue to work closely with our neighbouring forces and the National Police Air Service (NPAS) to disrupt and arrest hare coursing suspects and to enforce CPWs, CPNs and court orders.”
NFU campaigning on coursing
NFU campaigning on hare coursing led to a change in the law, which means convicted hare coursers can now be given unlimited fines and up to six months’ imprisonment, and gives police the means to seize more dogs.
The NFU is also leading calls for better resourcing for rural policing.
NFU Essex County Adviser Hamish Debnam-Sharp said: “The situation this farmer, and many farmers across Essex are facing is completely unacceptable.
“The NFU will continue to push for tougher action on hare coursing, and other rural crimes, and will support police with their investigations.”
Advice on reporting incidents
Essex Police urge anyone who sees hare coursing taking place to not put themselves at risk, call 999 immediately and provide as much information as possible – for example, a What3Words location, a description of the people involved, vehicle registration numbers, vehicle descriptions and the location and direction of travel.
When the police give a reference number, put this and the day’s date into any WhatsApp groups you are a part of so that anyone in the area with information can contact them and they can link it to the same incident, if relevant.
Otherwise, people can report incidents online or call 101.