Hay thefts, illegal sales rising as prices climb

Sat., July 12, 2008

By Rebecca Boone Associated Press

BOISE – Farmers might do well to turn their cow dogs into guard dogs.

Officials with the Idaho Department of Agriculture say that hay thefts and illegal hay purchases are on the rise as the price of hay continues to climb.

“There’s a lot of competition for hay right now,” said Dave Ogden, a manager with the department’s Warehouse Control Program. “We’re having a lot of problems with unlicensed dealers and speculators and outright thefts. You always have a little of this, but this year it’s brazen, happens during the day and it’s up a level from what it’s been in the past.

“There’s just so much money involved now that people are willing to take the risk.”

Hay prices are dramatically higher than last year, with supreme-grade alfalfa selling for roughly $235 a ton in Idaho last week, compared to about $160 a ton in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s market report.

During all of 2006, the department got about 25 complaints involving unlicensed dealers, said Tiffany Clark, a program manager for the Agriculture Department.

“This year, in the first six months, we’ve already had 20 complaints,” Clark said. “Last year we had about 10 complaints as far as nonpayment or theft and this year I’ve already had seven or eight.”

Those numbers don’t represent all hay thefts, Clark said – outright thefts are often reported directly to law enforcement agencies, bypassing the department regulators.

This year, the Agriculture Department is also getting complaints from licensed dealers who say they’ve been wronged by farmers.

“Just because the hay prices are going up so rapidly right now, there are guys who have signed contracts to supply a dealer with hay for $180 a ton and now that the price is up to $230 they’re not honoring those contracts,” Clark said. “With the gas prices, and the price of fertilizer has doubled, they’re just needing everything they can get out of that hay. The prices look real good right now but the price of everything else is up as well.”

The Agriculture Department is trying to remind farmers across the state to deal only with licensed and bonded dealers, and remind dealers to make sure that the contracts are dated and signed by everyone involved. But officials don’t have much advice when it comes to the thefts.

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