The plundering of crops under cover of darkness is “rampant”, according to West End farmer Tom Wadson.

The practice, euphemistically called “night farming”, is “blatant theft — call it what it is so nobody gets confused”, he said.

“They don’t know the damage they do. For them to get ten pounds of potatoes, they can destroy 50lbs.”

He added: “It’s worse than it has been, but when you’ve done this for a while, you get some idea what to plan and where. People don’t steal beans or cassava, but everything else seems to be fair game.”

Mr Wadson said the poor economic climate has “definitely contributed”.

“You see whole fields gone on occasion, in certain areas. Where it really kills you is you have a commitment to fill, and it walks off the night before.

“Let’s say I get an order for 20 bags of cabbages. Lo and behold, you find you’ve only got ten bags left.”

Securing and monitoring his 40 acres of farmland isn’t practical, he said — and discovering the theft after the fact means the incidents are simply noted by police.

“It’s just like common theft — there are certain people who have to steal. The dead giveaway is when the cop sees him and says, ‘Oh — it’s you’.”

Devonshire farmer Carlos Amaral agreed, attributing a lull in thefts of his produce to the culprits being behind bars.

“Just like housebreaking — you get known criminals who come out on bail. As soon as that individual’s out on the street, you start having problems again.”

Added Mr Amaral: “My biggest concern is that even though most farmers use organic pesticide, the purpose is to knock out a pest. It’s labelled that way. There’s a risk of someone getting sick — for a young person, or someone up there in age, the potential is there.

“We do our utmost to be conscientious about what we’re applying, but then you get someone else coming along that doesn’t care — they’re just looking to make a quick buck.”

He envisaged a case in which a freshly-sprayed field were plundered and the produce sold off to consumers unaware of the danger.

“That’s a nightmare scenario that I don’t ever want to have to deal with,” Mr Amaral said.