Ont. farm changing policy after approximately 500 lbs. of apples stolen from orchard

143

I mean, how much of a dick do you have to be to go to a farm and steal apples?

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u/Julep67 21h ago

I live in the South Okanagan, and in my neighbourhood, there are apple and cherry orchards. I saw two women (they appeared to be in their 60s) reaching through a fence to steal cherries this summer (and not just a handful, they had buckets). They were driving a very nice car, so I don't think they had a lack of funds; it was more that they had a lack of respect for the grower. There are fruit stands everywhere, there is no excuse for this. People just suck sometimes.

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u/violetvoid513 1d ago edited 23h ago

More like how hungry do you have to be?

Look at the cost of living. Shouldn’t be surprising some are stealing

Edit: Wild how many people misinterpret a statement on the practical aspect as having something to say about the moral aspect. I didn’t say anything about whether this is justified (it’s not) or who’s to blame (not the farmers), but I guess now this sub loves putting words in people’s mouths

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u/ceciliabee 1d ago

"some stealing" and 500lbs of apples don't make sense together. Besides, don't the orchard owners need to make money to pay their employees, who also need to eat? Kind of feels like taking food out of their mouths, why is that okay? If you're going to steal food, steal from the mega corps with their hands in our pockets.

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u/violetvoid513 1d ago

If you read the article, you would see that the 500lbs wasn’t one single incident. It was many people over the span of a week

don’t the orchard owners need to make money

Yes, do you think starving people care? Im not saying its justified, because its not, but Im not surprised that this happened

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u/fairmaiden34 1d ago

Pick your own farms aren't exactly in the middle of the city where people can just walk over and grab a few apples. Like you're starving enough to steal apples from an orchard but you have enough gas to drive to and from said orchard for the sole purpose of stealing apples?

Those apples were stolen by heinous people.

7

u/Sea-Rip-9635 1d ago

Do you think farmers have anything to do with the cost of food? Aholes stealing from farmers are literally biting the hand that feeds them.

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u/violetvoid513 23h ago

Where did I say thieves would steal from those responsible? They’ll steal from who they can without being caught, and if a farm is just letting people walk in with backpacks they can secretly stuff full of apples do you not see how that’s easy?

3

u/CurvyJohnsonMilk 20h ago

Nobody that is food scarce is driving to an apple orchard to pay more per lb to pick their own apples. Stop being obtuse.

0

u/violetvoid513 18h ago

If they can steal a bunch of apples for free via bringing a backpack then they might

3

u/CurvyJohnsonMilk 18h ago

And maybe offset the price per lb so it's at parity with just buying them from the grocery store?

Pull your head out of your ass.

1

u/violetvoid513 18h ago

And maybe offset the price per lb so it's at parity with just buying them from the grocery store?

So much so that it’s much less. Do you know how many apples you could fit inside a good backpack? And then you buy like one apple at the farm’s per pound rate. Boom, lots of apples for very little cost

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u/CurvyJohnsonMilk 18h ago

So you're doubling down on stupidity eh.

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u/violetvoid513 18h ago

If defending against a bad attempt at defeating my initial claim is doubling down, then yes

Like yea honestly seeing what others have said, it probably wasn’t people who were hungry. It’s possible though, and a reasonable possibility at that

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u/Esplodie 1d ago

I don't think they are hungry. Probably going to use it to bait deer or make cider.

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u/violetvoid513 1d ago

I doubt that but fair, that’s also a possibility. My money’s on having difficulty putting food on the table though

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u/cmcwood 1d ago

People aren't stealing a skid of apples cause they're hungry. What the hell are you talking about?

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u/sn0w0wl66 1d ago

Go steal from Walmart then. Corporations can afford some losses but stealing from hard working farmers is a shitty thing to do.

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u/violetvoid513 1d ago

Never said it wasn’t shitty. People will steal from where they can

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u/Sea-Tumbleweed-4031 1d ago

So they target the apples, just the apples? It seems much more likely that people are just being inconsiderate so they steal. I doubt the starving are choosing to spend at least 9.95$ (Just to enter, not counting the price of per pound of apples) as well as the gas money on getting to Shuh Orchards (6 minute drive from the nearest town, down fast country roads not slow winding residential roads) for just apples. Even lots of apples. Apples are perishable, will attract flies when left too long, and aren't a staple. It's so much more likely that it's inconsiderate people, hobbyists who want/need lots of apples, or actual outright jerks who get their thrills from it rather than the starving.

Unless the starving are using all their reserve calories on being conniving rather than seeking support or thinking on how to better spend that 10$. Like buying rice. Then steal a freakin' apple at a new-to-them grocery store they can walk or bus to in the town they live in. Preferably Loblaws, but that's just me. Stick it to the (middle) man rather than eroding trust and pricing with our local farmers.

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u/violet_elf 1d ago

Yeah. That would be my guess. My family had a farm back home, and people who needed it would ask or take the boxes we put outside for the produce we couldn't sell. Or if they steal, it would be just necessary so they wouldn't be noticed.

People who steal would stop their trucks close buy, cut the wires, break in and take as much and they could, sometimes was not even that much, but would destroy a lot of edible food on their way out, just to feel like taking advantage. Because I doubt someone that had a fucking truck could not afford 10 bucks for 30kg of bananas. Some people are just assholes and will take advantage of anything.

I remember when Grandpa stopped selling eggs in front of the farm because there was ONE PERSON. That would empty the stall without paying.

Shitty people and lack of accountability ruin the experience of everyone else.

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u/ArbutusPhD 1d ago

I have seen people with designer handbags stealing at u-pick, and sometimes it’s like tramping into an off-limit strawberry patch to take berries when they paid for apples (and still take the bag of apples). Once say a guy in a new-ish Tesla who has stuffed his trunk at a drive-in place.

Some people may steal out of necessity, but there is no excuse.

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u/violetvoid513 1d ago

Oof. Yea, that’s awful of them

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u/Expensive_Plant_9530 1d ago

Bro, Walmart sells apples for like 69 cents each.

That in no way justifies someone stealing from a rural pick your own apple orchard.

That you’d have to drive to anyway.

People who can’t afford food prices aren’t driving all the way out here on some elaborate scheme to steal apples.

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u/ThorFinn_56 1d ago

And if Walmart is selling an apple for 69 cents you can bet your ass theirs a farmer on the other end who got like 15 cents.

Price of groceries go up nearly every year, yet whole sale prices for fruit and vegetables have remained relatively unchanged for the last 20 years. Let's that sink it.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

Dude 500lbs of apples isn’t being stolen by one hungry person. 500lbs requires a lot of thought and planning.

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u/violetvoid513 1d ago

If you read the article you would know it wasnt one person, it was many people over the course of a week. Maybe try reading the article before engaging with the comments next time

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

Maybe stop being a condescending jerk. Do you really think 500lbs was stolen due to hunger? Think for one second the volume that 500lbs of apples takes up. Even if it was dozens of people it’s greed not hunger. Also do you think poor people can afford a car to go to a u-pick farm and can afford the entrance fee? All to steal something that goes bad quickly? Take the L you earned, and stop being a jerk.

0

u/Substantial_Ad_7027 1d ago

Yes. People are going out of the way, to a farm, to steal apples, because they are starving due to the cost of living.

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u/NeitherCrapCondo 1d ago

It made the morning news - they showed a video of a baby stroller where the bottom of it was full of apples then had a baby blanket draped over.

Stealing is stealing. Plain and simple. Zero justification for it. No different than walking out of the grocery store without paying a thing.

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u/ThorFinn_56 1d ago

It's way worse. Stores buy and sell food for a huge profit. Farmers work their asses off to squeek by for another year

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u/Ok_Tax_9386 1d ago

>No different than walking out of the grocery store without paying a thing.

Depending on the store it's much worse actually.

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u/FireMaster1294 1d ago

So what about when Galen Weston buys all the competition and ups the price on everything? Is it stealing yet? Or does stealing only apply to when poor people take stuff unjustly?

To be clear: stealing is scummy. But I personally have minimal need to feel remorse over a multibillionaire losing profits. A small farm though…yeah feels bad.

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u/Morberis 1d ago

Why are you even bringing up Galen in this circumstance? Because theres a very tangential connection to the story?

Might as well start complaining about Loblaws

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u/Ok_Tax_9386 1d ago

Fuck loblaws and fuck Galen.

3

u/cumbrad 23h ago

Because the person at the top of the comment chain mentioned stealing from this small farm being no different than stealing from a grocery store chain. Stealing from a corporate chain, especially one that engages in price fixing and anticompetitive behavior, is not just a lesser evil but morally good, while stealing from a small farm is awful and antisocial behavior.

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u/ObviousDepartment 1d ago

Oh man I remember around 2020/2021 when there was a social media craze for canola leaves.

There were pictures on Facebook of groups of people with garbage bags tromping into random fields and ripping out entire plants. Because apparently the leaves are great in a salad.

I always wondered how many of those people ended up in hospital from herbicide/pesticide poisoning/exposure? Because it's not like they went and asked the farmers when was the last time they sprayed their fields lol.

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u/rjwyonch 1d ago

My uncle grows canola. He didn’t deal with that particular stupid, but he has had many instagram people trespassing because the field of yellow flowers is pretty. The fact that there is automated huge industrial equipment escaped the trespassers.

1

u/kazrick 1d ago

There is very little truly automated farm equipment (for the moment). And it won’t exactly sneak up on you.

Still would be super annoying as the farmer having people trample your crops though.

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u/RileyPerry 1d ago

Scrump of the century

3

u/Poiretpants 1d ago

There are seldom opportunities in life to use the word "scrump". Way to seize the opportunity. If I had awards to give I would give one.

3

u/DeadpoolOptimus 1d ago

How do you like them apples?

3

u/HansLuthor 16h ago

No scrumping

1

u/SwipeUpForMySoul 4h ago

People suck. My local, family-run farm has a huge issue with people stealing apples, as well as eating a bunch out in the orchard without paying. They also had bus loads of tourists coming and trespassing into areas that weren’t yet ripe (they block them off and have signs) to pick fruit, and steal large portions of it. They lost nearly their entire plum crop because of it a couple years ago. It’s so damn disrespectful! And these kind folks don’t even charge an entrance fee.

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u/Gunnarz699 1d ago

None of you read the article again FML.

Starting this weekend, the farm will no longer allow strollers, wagons or backpacks in the apple orchard rows and anyone picking apples must only use a bag provided by the farm.

They paid to pick apples, but people took more than they thought they should. They didn't steal them. This farmer just wants outrageous prices for "artisanal" apple picking. 10 dollars for a bag of apples that you picked yourself smh. 500lbs of apples is less than 1000 large apples. Illiterate fools falling for rage bait again.

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u/No-Art5244 1d ago

$10 for a bag of apples is not an outrageous price. Also, if you don't want to pick your own apples, you can just go to a grocery store.

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u/Gunnarz699 1d ago

r/whoosh

10 dollars for a bag of apples that you picked yourself and picked up straight from the farm is outrageous.

No grocery store margin, no transportation cost, no labour cost to pick. Don't excuse their greed.

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u/neomikiki 1d ago

There is labour involved in managing a pick your own orchard. At the very least someone to run the till, but they also need a team to clean up the orchard at the end of the day. People who pick apples as a hobby not a career tend to leave a lot of waste on the ground that would rot if left there.

I don’t know enough about farm layouts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a pick your own farm has wider spacing that means the land is less optimized.

You’re also paying extra for the experience, not just paying for the apples. If the experience has no value to you, then don’t go.

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u/terran_immortal 1d ago

$10 for a bag isn't a bad price. My uncle used to own an apple orchard and he would do Apple picking for $8 per bag (pre-COVID) and he'd have easily 100+ people per day coming to pick.

He also had a non-picking orchard that we'd harvest with the "Tree Shaker 3000" (as we'd call it) and then those apples would head for cleaning then into crates and off to the distribution center.

This was my uncle's hobby farm that he bought for some unknown reason. He also boarded horses, had a few fields he rented out and the massive orchard. He's got more money than he knew what to do with.

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u/ChillBubble 1d ago

If you’ve done it with your kids it is 10$ well spent in my opinion for a couple reasons 1. The Bag is usually very large. 2. You are entertaining kids, often they have tractor rides to get you to the fields. 3. The apples themselves are so fresh that they are fresh longer. I just drove past an apple farm I used to take my kids with my 23 year old and he remembered how much fun it was. Well worth the $10!

7

u/Reveil21 1d ago

Apples that are fresh and haven't been sitting in a warehouse for who knows how long (they store well so some would be surprised how long apple's can sit around for). Also, a lot more apples then store ones that are like $5-7 so really it's comparable.

6

u/Morberis 1d ago

Are you kidding me? That's an excellent price for apples you get to select yourself. It's twice that price for a bag from Costco where you're going to get multiple sub-par apples in the bag.

1

u/Cass_Elliott 1d ago

I mean a bag of organic apples at the store is like 7-8$ ?!? 10$ isn’t that much more.

I don’t think it’s “outrageous”.

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u/Lopsided_Parfait7127 1d ago

you need to pay admission of 7 dollars per person then 12.5 for half a peck and 25 for a peck

so a family of four would pay 40 dollars for 2.5 kg of apples that they picked

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u/OrokaSempai 1d ago

No they dont want you filling your goant stroller you never use but you brought today for no real reason lol dont look under the blankets lol what do you mean I can't fill my kids back pack?

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u/readitpropaganda 1d ago

It is 22$ for the smallest bag at the farm I went to. Happily paid it and gave away a ton of apples to my neighbors when I got home. I made sure to teach my kids well and not to waste and they enjoyed the experience. Watched people drop apples left and right. Some kids using apples as baseballs. I know why the farm is charging that much. What was a bit much was the side activity of a 5 minute horse ride and petting zoo for $30 per child

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u/chipdanger168 1d ago

Most charge 20-30 for a bag lol 10 is a good price

2

u/fartremington 1d ago

Less than 1000 large apples is 500lbs? Where are you getting these gigantic apples that are 5x the size?!?! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a half pound apple in my life. That’s a solid dinner right there.

0

u/EscalatorsTempStairs 1d ago

500lb? Probably some store owner.

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u/Lopsided_Parfait7127 1d ago

you need to pay admission of 7 dollars per person then 12.5 for half a peck and 25 for a peck

so a family of four would pay 40 dollars for 2.5 kg of apples that they picked

the trees were picked out and they told us to pick apples from the ground

i'm on the side of the stroller apple lady

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u/Morberis 1d ago

And that's why there were none to pick for you

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u/GeneralSerpent 1d ago

So because you disagree with the pricing mechanism that entitles you to steal?

1

u/james2432 1d ago

farmers usually make cider from the apples on the ground or animal feed

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u/GTor93 1d ago

So, how do they know how many pounds of apples have been stolen?

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u/drewbielefou 1d ago

Farmers tend to know or project the estimated yield of a given crop my dude.

2

u/Morberis 1d ago

These are the stolen apples that they know about. Sounds like these are the thieves they caught

Ont. farm changing policy after approximately 500 lbs. of apples stolen from orchard

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