Farmers frustrated after thousands of dollars worth of irrigation wire is stolen

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) - Farmers in South Carolina said thousands of dollars worth of irrigation wire has been stolen from their properties.

Irrigation pivots are used to water crops and each of them has a wire that runs across to supply power.

Several farmers in Lexington County say every fall for several nights, their wire is cut and stolen and they don’t know who is behind the theft.

Henry Gunter, a 78-year-old veteran and farmer who owns over 1,000 acres of land near Pelion said this has happened multiple times in the last 5 years, he averaged over $20,000 worth of stolen wire. Gunter said people climb the 12-foot pivots and deliberately cut the wire, strip it, or burn it to sell the copper.

“They don’t care about hard work it takes to put it back up and the cost it takes to buy more” Gunter said.

But Gunter isn’t the only one. Three other farmers said they’ve had the same thing happen to them. The most recent instance happened just two weeks ago.

According to an incident report from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, more than 530 feet of Gunter’s wire was stolen from his property overnight. He said people don’t understand how hard farmers work, and stealing stuff from their land just makes it even harder.

“Farming is my passion, I wouldn’t work this hard for nobody, but it’s getting to the point that I’ve told my son, I’m ready to quit, you know it’s aggravating”, said Gunter.

Gunter said every time something like this happens, he has to climb the pivots and put on new wire. He said law enforcement needs to do something about this, but not just for him, for other farmers having the same problem.

The farmers explained that after someone climbs up and takes the wire, to sell the copper they need to get rid of all the plastic and material surrounding it. However, each wire has 10 smaller wires inside, all coated in rubber and plastic, which makes farmers question all the extra work for just a few dollars.

“By the time it’s burned it’s not worth anything, just the bigger wire, so it’s a lot of work for thieves to get it, and it’s a whole lot of work for us to put it back on”, said Gunter.

According to a spokesperson with the sheriff’s department, there is very little they can do without eyewitnesses. They urge local farmers to set up cameras and request that their property be put on a property checklist, which prompts deputies to conduct patrols around and near that property.

One farmer who owns land close to Gunter, added clamps to his pivots to secure the wire in an attempt to prevent it from being stolen. However, he said the next time they came, they brought something to cut the clamps and still took the wire.

“They take them off at least five different pivots, and they hit them over and over, so this isn’t the first time they have it, they know which ones to get to and they always do it where it is close to a road”, said Gunter

Gunter and other farmers said this is happening across South Carolina. Gunter said an investigation needs to be done to determine where the copper is being sold, with the idea that the companies can determine which copper was brought in outright and which has been stolen.

He said someone needs to be held accountable for all of the wire being stolen on his property and those surrounding it.

One farmer said he estimates $15,000 worth of theft, while another says he estimates nearly $100,000 spanning several years of theft.

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