Steps farmers can take to protect themselves as farm thefts rise

Jun 27, 2023

The dramatic rise in auto thefts in Ontario has been making headlines in the media recently. Thieves are getting bolder – and better – in stealing cars but are also increasingly making targets of farmers and rural property owners.

Reports of brazen farm equipment and other thefts are becoming more common, from GPS receivers and catalytic converters to trucks and livestock.

There used to be a certain amount of protection that came from living and working in rural Ontario away from urban areas and high traffic zones. Out of sight, out of mind – or so the saying goes – but it’s that rural isolation that is now increasingly making us a target as thieves have come to learn that many people in rural areas are away from their properties during the day.

I recently attended the annual conference of the Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers (OACS), an organization that represents 37 crime stoppers programs across Ontario. Crime stoppers are known for their anonymous tip lines where people who’ve witnessed a crime can make a report, as well as for the cash rewards they pay if a tip leads to a crime being solved.

These local programs play an invaluable role in helping solve crimes by working with law enforcement at all levels and harnessing the power of our communities to keep people safe.

Another great way to protect yourself and your property is to take steps to prevent theft from happening in the first place. Nothing is ever foolproof, of course, but there are actions you can take to deter thieves from making you a target. If it becomes too difficult, they’ll often move on to an easier target.

Source : OFA

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.