OUTLOOK — A farmer who has had $40,000 worth of canola stolen said he is too trusting.
“I’m 70 years old and I farmed most all my life and up till now I haven’t had much problems, so you trust people. You don’t think somebody will do this to you,” said Miles Moore, who farms near Outlook, Sask.
On the afternoon of Oct. 15, Moore said he filled a B-train from one of his hopper-bottomed bins containing 4,000 bushels of canola.
The next day, he noticed the inspection hole at the top of the bin was open with pigeons flying in and out. He also saw B-train tire tracks in the yard, which didn’t immediately concern him.
Expecting the bin to be two-thirds full, he climbed the ladder to close the door.
“I looked in the hole and damned near fell off the ladder. The canola was down to the bottom of the hopper.”
About 190 bushels remained. After subtracting what he removed the previous day, he determined about 1,800 bu. had been taken.
“I guess I was a little too trusting. I left the auger under the bin there and someone just pulled under and took another load,” he said.
“Funny part of it is they shut the gas off on the motor, which was kind of curious. Take $40,000 worth of grain and then worry about a gallon of gas.”
Moore said he had a bumper crop of irrigated canola last year that yielded 70 to 75 bu. per acre.
“There had to have been pretty well 6,000 bu. of canola off that 65 acres. That’s the most expensive seed you can buy, about $15 to $16 a pound. It’s about $400 per acre for an irrigation crop like that,” he said.
Given the cost of inputs, the $40,000 loss is a major hit.
“You use last year’s crop to seed the next one, so this is going to be devastating to try to fill that hole and seed another crop.”
The canola was under contract, so Moore had to make up the difference from another bin with seed that was earmarked for spring seeding.
Moore has farmed for most of his life. He has cattle and irrigated pasture with alfalfa, as well as corn silage and canola.
“I shift back and forth from the corn to canola. I grow feed for the cattle and then to help with the bills, I grow canola. This year, being a phenomenal price for (irrigated) canola, I got a decent crop, whereas the dryland canola is basically pepper,” he said.
“We’ve been here 119 years and I’ll keep going somehow. My dad said the cows will pull you through. Well, I hope so. They’re going to have to.”
Moore placed an ad in the local newspaper to warn farmers about theft.
“Maybe people will be more careful. Protect what you’ve got. This year guys are desperate for grain and contracts filled,” he said.
“I should have pulled the auger out of the yard. That’s what I would suggest. And don’t leave an auger underneath a hopper bin. I just left it there, which was maybe stupid in hindsight. But you trust people and that’s what happened.”
Ray Orb, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, advises farmers to temporarily disable augers or other equipment left in a yard.
“Sometimes in the busy season the farmers are away from their yards,” he said.
“There’s nobody around to watch and that’s when a lot of thefts happen. The RCMP can attest to that because we’ve met with them a lot and we still talk to them about this problem.”
Many farmers now use security systems that include cameras and motion sensors that record and notify the farmer of activity.
“They know exactly as soon as somebody comes into the yard. They have a mechanism or they get an alert, probably on their cellphones, which they can see and record who’s coming in their yard,” said Orb.
RCMP say farmyards should have more than one camera to document license plates and vehicles from different angles.
Grain confetti, small bits of paper that each have an identification number, can also be mixed with stored grain.
Electronic tracking devices can be hidden in machinery or toolboxes.
Intrusion alarms can be installed to activate when machinery is moved or tampered with.
A locked gate or piled snow to prevent entry can also deter thieves.
Higher prices and shortages have made grain more valuable and more vulnerable to theft.
“Some people are really desperate out there. Of course, grain is worth a fortune now. So a semi load, there’s a lot of value there,” said Orb.
He said provincial rural crime watch initiatives are growing and helping thwart some illegal activities.
“There are people out there watching and they can use social media to contact each other. For instance, the RCMP will send an alert, ‘be aware of this certain truck out there that has been in farmers’ yards and there’s been some reported thefts, so if you see that truck let us know.’
“It’s easier for the RCMP that way to be able to do the surveillance.”
New trespass legislation could also curb on-farm theft in the province.
“Before, you couldn’t really prosecute somebody for being on your land without permission, but now you can. I’m hoping it deters some of that,” said Orb.
Moore has installed “no trespassing” signs at the entrance to his farmyard and added a sign that quotes one of the 10 commandments, “thou shalt not steal.”
“If a guy’s driving by there every day, maybe his conscience will bother him. It won’t come of anything but what else can I do to him?”
Anyone with information about this theft should contact the Outlook RCMP at 1-306-867-5440 or Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-667-8477.
