Grain Theft

[wmoebis]

Just read something about grain theft in RM of Mariposa and Grandview.

What is the story behind that?

[RD414]

Heard from neighbours that super b of lentils was taken from a bin yard in grand view rm. Quiet road, hopper bins, trees surrounding the yard. Lots of fingers being pointed at a couple of usual suspects. Losses to theft in the area over last ten years would be a couple of million or more. Same person or group responsible for 90% of it. RCMP can’t catch a cold never mind this guy. Lots and lots of speeding tickets and drifting thru stop sign tickets. We’ve seen cops sanding kids skating rinks, standing guard on ostrich pens and preachers being arrested for preaching in the time this group has been at it but no results around here. Tell us to call insurance but most farms won’t use insurance unless it’s over 20 or 30 thousand dollars. Cant risk being banned by insurance companies.

[Blaithin]

Not that grain theft doesn’t happen - I know at least one farm who adds in the confetti stuff - but how would it be proven?

You'd need to catch them in action or at least have it on camera.

The amount of times I’ve heard farmers say “There’s more in the bin than I thought” or they end up putting a different grain on top of another grain because whoops that bin isn’t empty afterall… I know not all farmers are like that but what sort of records are typically kept that would show there is actually a load missing? Should be easier with grain cart scales I would think but again, would depend on records and sales.

Also what’s the timeline. Could steal from a bin and not have it noticed for 6-12 months. How does anything get proven for that?

I’m kind of surprised hopper bottoms don’t come with locks. At least then you’d have a sign of a break in and a better indication of when it happened.

Basic padlocks and wildlife trail cameras could go a long way to providing evidence to catching grain thieves.

[wmoebis]

Not accusing anyone but with the size of farms today and using commercial truckers can see grain going missing accidentally. I have heard of farmers forgetting a bin, so I suppose they could forget hauling one out or even taking a load out of one. Sometimes 1 load is pulled to check quality. Just saying it could happen and likely does.

[sumdumguy]

We have used the grain identifying confetti when Canola was over $20. Only $100 and hopefully it would be detected at elevator.

[LEP]

That's the question. Does it bring up a question when grain comes in with grainfetti? Blaithin?

I hate getting geared up to haul for a few days then something happens in the middle and plans change. I have 7 yards that we haul from and over 100 bins. Only once did I think a load went missing.

Hauling from a yard 6 miles from home and elevator got a train one day early. So I was shut down for a day and then started up again. Auger was left by the bins. I think I was short one load of canola.

So now the auger goes home if there is a delay in hauling.

Don't need grainfetti for all the bins but not sure what elevators think with it in the grain.

[blackpowder]

Yes, curious if grainfetti still a thing and if elevators catch it.
Also, there is remote moisture cables. Can they monitor levels?
I have on fuel tanks.
Trail cams work?
What would we do if there was dollar bills in a bin? Either way crappy. Very few if any remote bin yards here but I get how some need them.

[Blaithin]

Yes, it's easy to see the confetti when it's in the grain. I only recall seeing it from the one farm and knew they use it so nothing was done about it to my knowledge.

I haven't seen it in years since changing locations so if it were to pop up now it would be strange as nobody local is known to use it. I've never seen the company offer an easy way to trace the markers so I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do when we find it. Not like we can type the numbers in and see if it even traces back to our area or not. Ask the farmer if they started using the confetti but they could easily just say yes.

So I guess... while the idea is solid and may work as a deterrent, I'm not sure how it works in traceability or as an alarm if buyers can't authenticate the grain/confetti matches the seller.

Sumdumguy maybe you can answer as it's been years since I've seen it, I want to say the confetti had the farm or farmers name on them. That would definitely make it easier to ensure it's their grain, much easier than just a random code.

[TSIPP]

5000 bushels went missing near Ogema Saskatchewan, sometime between spring or 24 and spring of 25, not sure what was in the bin, CTV never said.