John Deere has said this week that all its Mannheim-built tractors will be fitted with the official CESAR + Datatag Scheme security system as standard.

Fitment will begin later this year and will cover all 5M and 5R Series, 6030 Standard and Premium Series and 7430 and 7530 models. John Deere dealers will also be trained to install Datatag on other product lines where it is not available ex-factory.

Deere is the third tractor maker to fit the new security system and follows similar announcements by McCormick and Landini on the tractor side plus JCB, Manitou and Merlo on the telehandler side. It is expected to put considerable pressure on other tractor makers to follow suit. The CESAR (Construction & Agricultural Equipment Security and Registration) scheme is the biggest and most co-ordinated attempt so far to turn back the rising tide of tractor and farm machinery thefts. It is supported by the police, the Home Office and the British Machinery Insurers Association (BMIA) as well as the Agriculturual Engineers Association.

The system involves fitting prominent tamperproof CESAR registration plates to deter theft or vandalism, along with hidden miniature transponders and forensic DNA solution that will reveal a machine’s identity even if the number plates and machine serial numbers have been removed.

John Deere dealers will keep individual records of Datatagged machines, and details of any stolen CESAR-registered machines can be circulated by Datatag worldwide to 187 countries via Europol and Interpol from its 24-hour database and call centre.

Leading insurance companies, including NFU Mutual, have said they will give discounts on premiums for CESAR-equipped equipment, with further reductions for machines fitted with GPS trackers and immobilisers.

• For more on farm security see a special report in this week’s Farmers Weekly, out on Friday. For information on how to subscribe click here.