B.C. farm suffers the consequences of vandals
By Jennifer Jackson
Following the Canada Day weekend, a British Columbia farm faces the costly aftermath of someone else’s joyride. Bystanders reported a white pickup truck performing doughnuts in its fields on the night of July 1, according to the Longview Farms’ Facebook post.
“According to witnesses, a (white, 4 door) Ford F-150 … entered the fields of the farm located between Wallace Drive and Central Saanich Road at approximately 8pm last night,” read the social media post for the Central Saanich-area farm. “(The driver caused) extensive crop and property damage to the organic fields.
“Not the Canada Day we had hoped (for).”
The farm’s post included photos of the damaged crops, such as onions, leeks and swiss chard. Crop irrigation pipes were also damaged.
Longview Farms Facebook Post
“We don’t like to see that happening because we work very hard,” Eric Doublier, a grower with Longview Farms, told CTV News. “Farming is a pretty difficult job so to get this crop, especially because we’re certified organic…we do a lot of manual labour to manage the field and keep it clean.
“Having someone just driving and doing doughnuts in the field, that’s very sad.”
Initial estimates suggest the vandal’s destruction represented approximately $1000 worth of damage. However, the farm will not know the full extent of the damage until the crops mature, according to the CTV article.
The farm received numerous replies and offers through its social media page.
“Along with all of the effort to bring these people to light, we appreciate all the offers to come out to the farm and help,” Longview wrote in a post update. “We have had an overwhelming amount of support and we are trying to determine how to coordinate such an effort to make this right.
“In the meantime, just keep supporting your local farmers in the marketplace and look for Longview Farms produce in your local grocery store! That's the best way to help us.”
Longview Farm asks anyone with tips or advice regarding the incident to contact either the farm itself or the Central Saanich police.
The police have already received information, according to Sergeant Greg Johnson.
“So far we’ve got one tip,” he told CTV News. “It only takes one to solve it. We’re really hoping the people are going to come forth with more information.”
Farms.com has reached out to Agricorp and the local police force for advice on how to handle this type of vandalism.