Thieves steal crops from Sutter County farmers

SUTTER COUNTY — As harvest season wraps up, some Sutter County farmers are having unwanted help picking crops from thieves who are apparently treating these orchards like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"They don't take a little bit. They are taking giant garbage bags full of them and multiple bags per car," Sutter County farmer Dan Johl said.

Johl noted crop theft has been an increasing problem over the last five years. His concern right now is the walnuts.

"We, in that time, have been kind of more adamant about being around the area once the walnuts get closer to harvest season, and we're catching it more and more often," he said.

Johl said he only harvests by equipment, so when he sees someone hand-picking on his property, he knows they aren't his employee.

"There is a 'private property, no trespassing' sign there. They all looked at it and they just kept on driving. They went to the back of the orchard here," Johl said.

The most recent run-in was just about a week ago. When Johl confronted the thieves, he said things got heated.

"Another car pulls up, more people come out, and this time they had me fully surrounded," he said. "I was still on the tractor at the time but they got very close, aggressive. Basically, [they] said that they were going to kill me, kill my family."

The Sutter County Sheriff's Office said they are aware of the incident and added that they have patrolled the area at least five times in the last week. They also said in a statement:

"Walnuts and almonds typically fall on the ground when they are ripe and wait to be harvested. This does not mean that they are byproducts and are not free to be picked up or stolen. Those who trespass on agricultural properties and take these products can be cited or charged."

This year's heat yielded a 30% drop in crops in the Yuba-Sutter area, and each walnut stolen is 80 cents gone.

"We're not seeing the money. The pay you might see in the store that's going up, it's not coming to farmers," Johl said. "So if we're getting less and on top of it we're having our crop being stolen, it really affects us."

Johl encourages the community to report any suspicious activity to the Sutter County Sheriff's Office.