There could be some yellow-handed thieves driving around east Rocky View County.
According to recent posts and comments on community Facebook pages, residents of Indus, Langdon, Chestermere and Beiseker have spotted people stealing unharvested canola from nearby farmers’ fields.
"I saw two people – a man and a woman – picking the whole plant with a little hand garden shovel and putting them in bags," said Stephanie Patterson, who lives just outside Beiseker. "I saw them put them in the back of their SUV, which had a ton of bags." The issue has even caught the attention of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission (ACPC). According to the commission’s chair, John Guelly, this is not the first time the ACPC has heard of people stealing canola.
“Usually, the RCMP aren’t involved and it’s not as much volume as it appears to be in this case,” he said. “It sounds like there were 15 or 16 people with a whole bunch of garbage bags, and they cleaned off a couple of acres.”
While a bag or two of canola would be virtually negligible when it comes to a farmer’s bottom line, Guelly said removing or trampling a large section of a canola field could ultimately affect profit margins.
“If it’s a 60-bushel, 10-acre crop at $10 a bushel, that’s $600 an acre – so $1,200 for a couple of acres,” he said.
“It’s one thing if you’re going to take a little bit for your own personal or family use, but it sounds like these people are collecting it and reselling it.”
Ironically, Guelly said, many farmers would be more than happy to part with a small amount of their crop, if they were simply asked permission first.
“As long as [people] come ask, they’re polite and they leave the field the way it was before they got there, it’s not an issue,” he said.
“But you can’t just go help yourself, because then it becomes trespassing and theft.”
Cpl. Wayne Goetz, of the Strathmore RCMP detachment, said the crime in question pertains more to trespassing than it does to theft. He said the detachment has responded to one recent incident involving a report of canola theft – a July 10 call along Highway 791.
"It was reported as a theft of canola, but there were some issues with permission to access the property," he said. "I think there were four people and they were charged with trespassing.
"I don't know how widespread this has become...but I guess it has been an issue."
As to why people would want to steal raw canola, Guelly admits the ACPC is still trying to figure that out.
“It seems to be used in some sort of ethnic salads,” he said. “I’ve never eaten it myself, and to be honest, I couldn’t imagine eating it in that state.
“I once heard they dry it and use it for tea, but that’s just hearsay.”
In terms of trying to deter future thefts, Goetz said the RCMP recommends farmers install "No Trespassing" signs by their fields.
Due to the vast size of most canola fields, Guelly said it is difficult for farmers to supervise the crops – particularly at this time of year, when the fields or only checked once or twice a week.
“A lot of these fields are three, five, 15 miles from where we live,” he said. “You’d have to be at the right place at the right time to see these people. It may go on more often than we know.”
