Pilfered potatoes: Crop theft a growing issue
Stolen produce and vandalized equipment reported this year, as well as safety concerns
Richmond farmer Bill Zylmans recalls catching a man in his berry patch late at night, stealing strawberries with the help of a headlamp.
Another time, he went to dig up his potato crop and found it missing. His pumpkins regularly “gain legs and walk away.”
Crop theft has long been an issue for farmers, but anecdotal evidence suggests the problem may be growing like a weed in places where urban development is encroaching on agricultural land.
“It’s not something new, but it’s just getting worse,” Zylmans said on Friday.
The issue came up at a recent Richmond community safety committee meeting, where Richmond RCMP Supt. Will Ng told city councillors that farmers should use alarms and other crime prevention measures to deter crop theft. City staff said they would be speaking with farmers to potentially put together a public education campaign. Richmond spokesman Ted Townsend said crop theft and vandalism are continuing issues in the community, with some years “worse than others.”
There seemed to be an increase in theft this year, he said in an interview. “Farmers have a lot of challenges already, and theft makes it more difficult for them.”
Most of the problems are along the rural-urban interface, where roads and trails run beside or through farmers’ fields. Passersby may only steal a bucket of blueberries or a perfect pumpkin, but whether it’s due to “ignorance or avarice,” it’s still a criminal offence, said Townsend.
“People think taking a bucket doesn’t do much harm, but if a hundred people take a bucket, it certainly has an impact.”
Richmond farmers also reported vandalism to farm equipment this year, as well as safety concerns during the cranberry harvest, when people drawn to the “visually-compelling” sight of ruby-red cranberries floating in a bog clogged roads and impeded the harvest.
The city is working to add signs and provide education to make people more aware of crop theft, said Townsend. A social media campaign was successful in getting the word out this fall. The problem isn’t limited to Richmond, although the proximity of the city to farms seems to make the issue worse.
In August, a John Deere tractor and custom-built crop sprayer were stolen from a Langley blueberry farm. The equipment, worth about $200,000, was recovered on an Abbotsford property. A Surrey man was charged with possession of stolen property.
In 2006, thieves in Abbotsford stole the contents of an entire blueberry field. About 20,000 bushes, worth $75,000, were sitting awaiting planting when they disappeared.
Both heists would have required some planning and knowledge of farming, but casual theft occurs, too. Sweet corn farmers in the Fraser Valley have long planted field corn (a tough, bland variety used to make cattle feed) on the outside rows of their fields to deter hungry passersby.
In some cases, the thieves seem hungry for profit rather than food.
In 2015, a Kelowna farmer lost 100 bales of hay when they were stolen from her field after baling. The daylight theft was attributed to the rising price of hay.
While some of the most egregious cases — like a 199-pound pumpkin pilfered from a Richmond farm in 2014 — make headlines, they may not always be reported to police.
“We have no reports filed in 2017 that pertain to pumpkin theft,” Richmond RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dennis Hwang said in an email, referring to the October theft of several pumpkins from a Richmond farm by people driving luxury cars.
Police received two reports of damaged farm equipment this year, and one report of theft from a community garden, he added.