It has to be quite an undertaking to harvest 15 acres of tiny pods by hand in the middle of the night without the landowner noticing...
Besides, if theft really was a huge problem and the goods really that valuable, you'd just leave someone to sleep in a tent in the middle of the fields during the critical harvest time.
Something smells fishy about this story...
I didn't live there, but I knew people that lived there, so don't take the numbers too seriously. But I know that it was a problem.
« you'd just leave someone to sleep in a tent in the middle of the fields during the critical harvest time. »
The word "just" is doing a lot of work here.
Sadly a lot of crimes cause many times the damage than what the criminal gets. Smash a big shop window to grab a few items and run. Or around here in the Central Valley, poke a hole in a fuel tank and fill up a canister (which you can sell), then walk away while the rest of the fuel, possibly hundreds of gallons, drains out into the ground, poisoning the farmland on which it stands.
> you'd just leave someone to sleep in a tent in the middle of the fields during the critical harvest time
That depends on many factors. Mainly on how long the harvest interval. If there are only a few days from the day it is first possibly worth harvesting to the optimal day that benefits this strategy. The longer the interval the costlier the strategy.
Other thing which can affect the viability is the likelihood that your guard can do something about the theft. If the guard is alone in the woods with no way to call for help then what good is it to have a guard?
They leave some guy behind who is supposed to watch, but guess who was late/sick/whatever that night?
Yeah, i mean we all should accept everything written in every article with no critical thinking whatsoever.
You choose to interpret the comment as arogant. I choose to interpret it that they see an obvious solution which is neither mentioned nor implemented and thus they have questions about what they are missing. Clearly if what one sees as obvious is not done then one is likely missing something important.
But that is the question: why can’t a single person guard the crop?
The answer to that question would reveal more about the shape of the problem.
Is it because the single guard won’t even see and hear when the illegal harvesters get to work? (That is to say harvesting is so quick and silent that the guard would be none the wiser?)
Is it because the guard would see the harvest but would be overwhelmed by the illegal harvesters?
Yes. Agreed. It seems we are on the same page on this.
Where we seem to disagree is what follows from this observation. You call it arogance to share one’s thoughts and questions, i call it curiosity.
If we all just sit on our backside and think “hmm, clearly setting guards should work, yet the article doesn’t even mention it, there might be something I’m missing”, then we all will die not knowing any more. If someone asks it we might learn from the answers.