The Farmers Weekly security supplement, published in March, struck a chord with Staffordshire farmer Simon Clarke and as a result Enigma Vehicle Systems has just fitted the Cesar security and registration scheme to his John Deere 6930 tractor.

Mr Clarke, owner of Dunstall Estate, farms 1000 acres, said: “I read about the Cesar scheme in Farmers Weekly and thought it was a really good idea.

“Datatag put me in touch with Enigma who fitted Cesar to my John Deere tractor today. It took the technician about an hour and so it was all quite painless. The tractor qualifies for an insurance premium discount now, so all in all Cesar is a sound investment”.

The Dunstall Estate is a mixed farm growing wheat and barley and raising sheep and beef cows.

Cesar is supported by the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), the Home Office, and the British Machinery Insurers Association. It is fitted as standard to many brands of agricultural equipment sold into the UK including John Deere, McCormick, Cat, JCB, Manitou, Merlo and Kubota.

Statistics compiled by the insurance industry funded Plant and Agricultural National Intelligence Unit show that Cesar registered machines are six times more likely to be recovered in the event of theft, than unregistered machines, and four times less likely to be stolen in the first place.

Cesar, which will be demonstrated by makers Datatag ID Limited at stand number 735 at Cereals, can be fitted to any existing piece of agricultural equipment, and once fitted the machine is protected for life.

Cesar incorporates state of the art identification technology in each machine, giving it a unique identity, just like a finger print. It is made up of three elements. First, four tamperproof registration plates are securely fitted to the machine’s chassis. Second, a number of RFID transponders, each the size of a grain of rice, are hidden in the machinery each with its own unique programmed code. Third, the machine has patches of forensic liquid DNA painted on it.

The liquid DNA also has microscopic Datatdots suspended in it which are invisible to the eye. It’s literally impossible for thieves to remove all the tell-tail identification traces from a CESAR registered machine.

Once a machine has had Cesar fitted it is protected for life with no annual subscriptions or additional costs. NFU Mutual Insurance offer 12.5% insurance premium discounts for machines fitted with Cesar, which should be music to farmers’ ears.

Dunstall Estates John Deere tractor was supplied by Agricultural Industrial Services (AIS) Limited of Sudbury, Derbyshire.

*Cereals 2010 exhibitor copy as supplied by Datatag ID Ltd.