Georgia farmers crack down on rash of pecan thieves

[Hum]

SAVANNAH, GA ? Hired by farmers as a private security guard, Brooks Rucker patrols thousands of acres of Georgia farmland on the lookout for thieves toting 5-gallon buckets.

He rarely comes up empty handed. Since the fall harvest began, Rucker says, he and two other guards have caught more than 160 culprits in the act. Some they let go. Others get handed over to police.

Either way, he?s recovered thousands of dollars? worth of stolen goods: mounds of pecans snatched from his employers? trees.

?It?s an all-day hassle trying to keep these folks out,? said Rucker. ?You?ll pull into a pecan grove and they?ll have a 10-foot extension ladder trying to shake the pecans loose with poles.?

At a time when farmers should be giving thanks for pecans selling at record prices, they?re instead cracking down on thieves. One sheriff in pecan-growing country says his department gets several calls a week reporting pecan snatchers, while the prosecutor in the area anticipates prosecuting dozens of pecan-theft cases.

It?s not just pecan pies and other nutty goodies driving the demand. Prices have soared as China has developed an insatiable pecan appetite, while withering drought in the southern U.S. has limited supplies.

In Georgia, the nation?s top pecan producer, farmers and authorities say criminals can make a tidy profit by stealing the nuts ? worth $1.50 or more a pound in smaller quantities.

Pecan grower Bucky Geer estimates a single 5-gallon bucketful is worth about $38.

?Some of these pecans are approaching a nickel in value apiece,? said Geer, whose neighbor set up surveillance cameras after a theft. ?It makes them too tempting .?

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[jnelsoninjax]

People will steal anything. It's just sad to see that even the farmers are being hit.

[Eric Veteran]

Pecan prices have gotten ridiculous. We've been taking some from our tree in the back yard to the flea market to sell lately...