ATV field damage frustrates farmers

Farmers on P.E.I. are looking for tougher legislation to deal with ATV and dirt bike drivers who tear up their fields.

Bedeque farmer Kevin Murray got a call over the weekend from a neighbour telling him there was someone riding through his field.

"It's hard when you go in and plant a field, it's perfect, and the next day someone's in tearing it up," said Murray.

Once the barley plants in Murray's field are crushed they won't grow back, and he said there are other issues as well.

"They're not just ruining a crop. They're spreading diseases from field to field," he said.

"If we get a major disease in a field it could wipe out our entire crop."

Rob Green, who has a farm just down the road from Murray, said he has also had a problem with ATVs and dirt bikes in his fields.

"It wasn't a big value or big loss," said Green.

"It's just the fact it's being done, the lack of respect people have out there for other people's property."

Green and Murray think they know who is doing it, but they don't have enough evidence to take the case to police.

The Federation of Agriculture says it plans to lobby the province to amend existing legislation when it comes to ATVs on farmers' fields, and increase fines.