The farmer has estimated that more than 40 lorry loads worth of rubbish were dumped on his arable farm on the outskirts of St Albans in Hertfordshire over the course of three nights.
Items dumped include asbestos, cannabis waste, timber and office furniture.
He told the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), of which he is a member, that he has serious concerns about the financial and environmental impact of the rubbish, with farmers and landowners legally responsible for removing rubbish.
In addition to the cost of removing the rubbish, calculated to be worth more than £40,000, it could also impact wildlife on the farm.
“It is just devastating,” he said.
“This is not covered by insurance and there is just no way that I am going to be able to pay this – I don’t know what I am going to do.”
The farmer believes that the clear up process will take around a week, while he bemoaned the regularity with which fly-tipping takes place.
“I have fly-tipping here every week, but I’ve never had it on this scale,” he continued.
“Farming is hard enough at the moment, and I know many other farmers in Hertfordshire who have had industrial scale fly-tips on their land. The situation is getting worse and it disrupts our ability to produce food and care for the countryside.”
In response to the incident, the NFU is calling for an urgent meeting with the leaders of all of Hertfordshire’s district councils and is working closely with Hertfordshire Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and Environment Agency.
The trade body has also written to St Albans MP and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper to raise awareness of the recent incident.
“This is another shocking incident of fly-tipping, which is becoming all too common in Hertfordshire,” said NFU county adviser for Hertfordshire Josh Redford.
“The NFU is taking a very proactive approach to address this and is working closely with local authorities and stakeholders.
“We are calling for an urgent meeting with all district council leaders in Hertfordshire as the next step and we are determined to fight for our members and ensure the people responsible are brought to justice, at the same time deterring others from carrying out this serious and damaging crime.”
Fellow NFU member Will Dickinson, who runs a neighbouring arable farm, has also been impacted by fly-tipping on several occasions and is supporting the farmer dealing with this incident.
“The local authorities are doing their best, but they need to be better resourced,” Dickinson said.
“We need to see more arrests and convictions and the full extent of the law used to properly punish the people who do this. When they are caught the fly-tippers are often given a fine which is less than the cost of a skip.”
