Silage corn harvesting is currently underway across the country. Agricultural Weekly notes, however, that dangerous situations occur in the fields every season. In the Radziejów district (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship), there have been several cases of damage to agricultural equipment recently caused by screws and rods placed in corn.
Vandals set traps for farmers. “Golden cobs” cost Mr. Andrzej tens of thousands of zlotys
Unknown perpetrators place metal objects on plants, so-called “golden cobs”, which are intended to damage the chopper's knives. Mr. Andrew Dadzibóg. He came across the traps three times in a short time. The first time he managed to avoid damage.
– It was acid-resistant steel (editor's note) wrapped in rubber and foamed to make it difficult to detect. My forage harvester managed because it is from 2018 and already has an appropriate warning system installed – he told the portal. Two days later, however, the situation repeated itself and this time it resulted in damage to the equipment. To make matters worse, after these difficulties and spending tens of thousands of złoty on repairs, Mr. Andrzej once again came across a “golden flask”, which destroyed his forage harvester for the second time.
The steel rod caused the damaged elements to be thrown about 15 meters onto the road, where a cyclist passed by a moment later. If he had been hit in the head, he would have been dead.
– Mr. Andrzej reported. He also noted that this year's season is coming to an end and will most likely not allow him to make up for the losses incurred in connection with equipment repairs.
Similar incidents in other places in Poland. “The combine operator is not able to notice something like that”
Portal Top Agrarian also reports that Kujawy is not an isolated case and similar incidents have also recently occurred in Wielkopolska. In the Wierzbinek commune, farmers found traps made of metal objects and stones placed in corn.
Information The incident reached the mayor Paweł Szczepankiewicz, who publicized the case and offered a financial reward for help in identifying the perpetrator. “A combine harvester operator is not able to notice something like this. Everything happens so quickly that when a forage harvester swallows something like this, it wreaks havoc on the machine,” he wrote in a commune message on social media.
Mr. Andrzej also decided to act. He first reported the matter to the police, but he assessed the response of the services as insufficient. Therefore, together with a colleague from the industry, he offered a PLN 60,000 reward to the person who identifies the perpetrator. The announcement on social media was published by Mr. Damian Świderski, who indicated that the situation raises concerns about the health of machine operators and bystanders. “Let's not wait until a tragedy happens,” he appealed.
Due to numerous dangerous situations Weekly Agricultural appealed to farmers to be vigilant and observe plants before mowing. He also encouraged them to observe plantations and the activity of unknown people. “If an unknown vehicle or a stranger stops near a corn plantation, it is worth not being indifferent,” the journalists emphasized.