With used farm equipment in short supply, tractor thefts have become more common - Entrepreneur Generations

Despite their size, farm tractor sometimes vanish without a trace.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

A century ago, farmers had to worry about horse and cattle rustlers, but now, they need to look out for tractor thieves. "Used tractors are increasingly valuable and often left out in the open with their keys in the cab, ready to be stolen," reports Elissa Welle for Offrange. "In 2023, there were 1,221 reported thefts of special equipment, including tractors, each month."

New farming equipment is expensive, so many farmers seek out used equipment, which is in short supply. Over the past year alone, there has been "a 23% shrinkage of the inventory of used compact and utility tractors," Welle explains. "Mower, riding, or garden tractors were the top style of reported thefts in the category."

Despite their size, tractors are surprisingly easy to steal. Farmers often leave their keys in the tractor for easy startups or the next driver, with some older models even sharing the same manufacturer's key. "By grinding off the VIN, older tractors can simply disappear into the used farm equipment market," Welle reports. "Older models are often not equipped with GPS, leaving law enforcement little to go off."

Last year, farmers in California faced a rash of vanishing tractors, which ended when state law enforcement "broke up a farm equipment theft ring alleged to have stolen equipment totaling $2.25 million," Welle writes. 

Once a tractor is gone, it's hard to recover. "Only half of the value of the stolen equipment — $1.3 million — in California was recovered in the recent bust," Welle reports. 

Despite the increase in farming equipment theft in some areas, farmers don't like to talk about it. Farmer Steve Hess, who had three pieces of equipment stolen, "believes that his tractors didn’t go far. . . But despite his lived experience, talking about a stolen tractor is taboo in the farming community, Hess said, likening it to divorce," Welle explains. "He’s silenced many bustling farmer meetings with the announcement that his tractors got stolen."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/ct1RfHm With used farm equipment in short supply, tractor thefts have become more common - Entrepreneur Generations

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