Eyota farmer out nearly $5K after fuel theft; How to make sure you’re covered

EYOTA TOWNSHIP, Minn. (KTTC) – An Eyota farmer is out thousands of dollars after someone stole around 900 gallons of diesel from him. Authorities said the farmer noticed his tank was empty Monday night. They believe someone broke the lock and stole the fuel.

At the beginning of June, the farmer filled up his 1,000 gallon diesel fuel tank, something that was supposed to last him well into harvest season.

“The cost to fill up at the time was about $4,770 that he’s out now,” Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office Captain James Schueller said.

Investigators said the farmer only got to use around 100 gallons of that tank before the theft.

“How is someone that’s already operating on probably a limited budget, with the way the markets are right now, and trying to make ends meet. Now he has to come up with a way to overcome this,” Capt. Schueller said.

Law enforcement suspects the fuel was taken all at once and the thief would have had to bring their own power source and large trailer to take the fuel.

“It’s not like a small time operation that did this,” Capt. Schueller said.

Farmers have a lot to look out for when it comes to insuring their property.

“Just a regular house in town, most of your stuff falls under your personal property. With a farm, it’s more like a business,” Farm Bureau Financial owner Toby Hatievig said.

Along with equipment and livestock, fuel can also be covered by insurance.

“Your insurance agent should go through an extensive list of all the things that you have that you want insured. Fuel, oil, those types of things fall under that where you can schedule it based on an amount,” Hatievig said.

Insurance agents recommend revisiting your plan once or twice a year to make sure everything you want covered is.

“You always want to check with the individual wording on all your policies, but if this were not scheduled, it would not be under a general blanket,” Hatievig said.

While we don’t know if this specific farmer will get any of his money back, it may be a good idea to check out your insurance plan in case something like this could happen to you.

“It’s better to ask more questions now when there isn’t a problem then when it isn’t a problem and it’s kind of an “oh no” moment. What do you do?” Hatievig said.

The Sheriff’s Office said this is the first time in awhile that someone has reported a fuel theft on this scale. Officers said there are a number of ways farmers can prevent thefts from happening like putting up a locked gate or installing lights near where you store your equipment.

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