Managing for Profit

Protecting the farm against theft

With a growing number of farm assets lost to theft, a Kansas detective is taking steps to help the farm community prevent it and to reverse the trend.

Johnson County, Kansas, Sherriff’s Detective Brett Wilson says farmers and construction companies have a common enemy in thieves.  Both have similar vulnerability to people who steal from unsecured areas.

Wilson has investigated a lot of high value thefts in which farmers or construction companies are victims.  He says equipment dealers have taken preventative measures to make facilities secure, such as fences and electronic surveillance, but in the case of remote construction job sites, or farms that are away from homesteads, vulnerability to theft is high.

A piece of equipment common to both construction and farming is the skid steer loader, which, Wilson said, is the most commonly stolen piece of farm and construction equipment in the U.S.  Similar to automobiles, Wilson says most have a unique vehicle identification number, so if someone attempts to sell one, and it doesn’t have that or a serial number evident.  That’s “a huge red flag.”

Wilson says a program that’s grown to the eastern third of Kansas and the western half of Missouri serves as a database that could aid in recovering stolen equipment and livestock.  It’s called TRACE – Theft Reports of Agricultural and Construction Equipment.  Wilson refers to it as an online neighborhood watch.  When a piece of equipment is stolen, an email notification is sent, plus it’s posted to social media sites in hopes that someone will have seen the missing item.

AUDIO: Brett Wilson (3 min. MP3)