Ontario pick-your-own apple farmers hit hard by thefts

Melissa Downey was working the checkout booth at her family’s pick-your-own produce farm in early October when she noticed two customers trying to sneak past the exit.

A man was trying to balance an overflowing bag of apples while a woman used her sweatshirt as a makeshift basket. Downey, suspicious they were trying to leave with stolen goods, called out to them.

The woman went up to the booth and, after a brief back-and-forth, slapped Downey before walking away with the stolen fruits.

“I was trembling,” Downey said. “She assaulted me and still left with all the extra apples. She won.”

Downey, who co-owns Downey’s Strawberry and Apple Farm in Inglewood, Ont., says her encounter is part of an unfortunate reality costing many pick-your-own produce farms across the Greater Toronto Are