“Through the end of June [2007], there were nearly 1,000 incidents of scrap metal theft on farms, causing more than $2 billion in losses …”

[T]hieves … have been stripping the copper wires out of irrigation systems throughout California. The rampant thefts have left farmers without functioning water pumps for days and weeks at a time, creating financial loss and occasional crop devastation in a region still smarting from a spectacular freeze last winter.

… “They go out and take a farm pump in the middle of nowhere,” said Sgt. Walt Reed, head of county’s rural crime task force. “And they can pull the copper wire strands from the electrical wire box and get 60 feet of wire, remove the insulation and take it to the scrap yard for $2 to $3 a pound.”

… Copper thieves cut the wires in the conduit that runs to the power source, tie the wires to the back of a pickup truck and drive away, pulling the wire behind them and generally making off with roughly 75 pounds of scrap metal.

Over the last 18 months, copper prices have hovered over $3.50 a pound, hitting $4 at one point, the highest price the metal has reached in recent memory …. By comparison, copper fetched 65 cents a pound in 2001.

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