One of our reasons for leaving England (Staffordshire) was the staggering level of theft. Initially it was a row of leeks, but then escalated.
The first thing was our rotorvator, which wasn't locked up but well buried amongst other stuff. I noticed a week earlier that things may have been moved slightly, as if someone was nosing about, but the area seemed secure with only one gravel drive entrance between houses and the machine was very heavy. It was the only theft we bothered to report and it was found by a school caretaker about a mile away, dumped in a hedgerow.
Our small petrol lawnmower was taken. It was in a locked shed, the door of which was smashed to bypass the heavy-duty padlock. They forgot to take the grass box, which I then removed and someone definitely came back the next night, presumably to collect it.
The list of minor stuff taken is ridiculous. Two antique doors, 5 railway sleepers, 100 concrete blocks, the entire crop of fruit (apples, pears, plums), fruit canes, compost (the piles in the garden)- that's what I can remember! Didn't report any of them as I was advised the information can be accessed and would obstruct the sale of our house. At some stage someone tried to dismantle one of the chicken coops which, fortunately, was unoccupied.
One neighbour had a £100 padlock and chain stolen. He left it on the gate and was away just 5 minutes, but the crazy thing was the padlock was clipped shut and there was no key!
All this rendered the whole smallholding exercise pointless for us. We spent a great deal of our time unlocking and locking padlocks! We have a box full of them in the garage, now unused.