A Rivers-area farmer is warning others to take farm security seriously after thieves made off with about $40,000 worth of his canola.
“I don’t think farmers realize how vulnerable they are,” said Les Wedderburn. “We didn’t.”
Wedderburn farms southwest of Rivers, growing grain and oilseeds with his brother.
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In early March, they opened up a bin to check on the canola ahead of marketing it, and realized between 1,500 and 1,600 bushels were gone.
Wedderburn said they’d rotated the canola in December and had left the auger in the bin overnight. He thinks someone came during the night and used the auger to load up and haul away an estimated B-train worth of oilseed.
No one lives on the farmyard, though it’s used for every day farming operations, Wedderburn said. His brother lives across the road. The site is also at the intersection of two roads.
Rivers police chief Lon Schwartz told the Co-operator they have little to go on. Wedderburn’s brother reported seeing a black truck enter, then quickly exit the yard on the day they turned the canola.
A Rivers police officer interviewed neighbours, but no one reported seeing anything. They also inquired with a nearby grain elevator, but this turned up nothing.
“It’s a huge theft, and I get it that it would be devastating,” Schwartz said. “I don’t know what we can do at this point.”
The canola wasn’t covered by his farm insurance, Wedderburn said. He’s since spoken with other farmers and said most say they either don’t have stored crops covered or don’t know if they’re covered.
The farm site didn’t have security cameras, nor were they using grain confetti – small bits of paper with registered serial numbers mixed into the grain.
That’s going to change, Wedderburn said. A surveillance company has already mapped out the yard for security camera installation.
Both Wedderburn and Schwartz said theft like this isn’t common in Rivers and the surrounding RM of Riverdale. No grain thefts have been reported while he’s been in the service, Schwartz said.
The most recent reported theft was “barn wood” from a dilapidated house, Schwartz added.
But Wedderburn said he expects thefts like this one will increase. Crop prices are high, as are gas and input prices. Farm yards can hold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stored crops alone, he said – never mind stored fuel and fertilizer.
“There’s a lot of guys with their back to the wall that didn’t get a crop last year, and I know there’s lots of contracts out there that didn’t get filled,” he said.
If people can’t fill contracts and have to pay them out, they may get desperate, Wedderburn added.
“I think there’s lots of bad things out there that could happen,” he said.
In the past, Rivers police have urged residents, “if you see something, say something,” Schwartz said.
Now, surveillance cameras and grain confetti may be advisable, he said. It’s also a good idea to write down serial numbers from equipment, which can help identify property if it’s stolen.
