East End farm stands report thefts, threatening decades-old honor systems

Most mornings, Natasha Green can be found in her Cutchogue garden filling baskets with just-blushed tomatoes, squash, potatoes, flowers and anything else ripe for harvest.

The yield is abundant enough for Green to feed her family and offer the rest for sale at a small wooden stand on Main Road.

"I don’t like waste, so the extra stuff goes on the farm stand," she said on a recent August afternoon.

The quaint stands are a part of the landscape on rural North Fork roads, carrying everything from freshly laid eggs to armfuls of dahlias, jars of honey and even local oysters set out by farmers who may be nowhere in sight. They could be tending to crops, caring for farm animals or working day jobs while trusting that their customers will leave cash or send money on Venmo for products they take.

For many farmers, the honor system works. But that system is being increasingly tested by thieves, prompting some to install cameras, switch to electronic payments or limit offerings.

At Long Island Poultry in Baiting Hollow, owners Wayne Meyer and Jessica Mayo have run an honor system stand for the past eight years. It grew from a hobby to a way to supplement farm costs, including labor.

"It’s hard to find anybody to work these days, and we can’t afford to put somebody out here four or five days a week," Meyer said. "That’s our profit ... so we deal with the few dollars a week that are stolen from us."

Caught on camera

In early August, Meyer posted a video to Facebook showing a couple swapping egg colors and taking three dozen, despite only paying for two dozen.

"You want me to take a third one?" the woman is heard saying. "I only paid for two of them," the man responded.

"All right, but don’t say anything," she replied.

The video, Meyer said, got nearly 200,000 views and sparked outrage and a social media effort to identify the couple. That same week, another video spread rapidly online capturing a masked overnight intruder destroying a cash box with a crowbar at Goodale Farms in Aquebogue.

"I look at the cameras and see someone stealing, it’s anger for a minute," Meyer said in an interview. "You lose faith in humanity."

Anger prompted Meyer to share the video online, but he and other farmers told Newsday that filing a police report for a theft of a few dollars isn’t worth the effort of a police investigation or potential court appearance.

But the public shaming element can be more powerful than pressing charges, Meyer said.

About 10 days later, the man from the video returned to the farm stand with the money he owed, a bottle of vodka and an apology, according to Meyer, who has since taken the post down.

Green, too, has been targeted by thieves, and both her cash box and security cameras have been tampered with. Last summer, one woman stole so frequently that Green posted her photo with a note asking her to stop.

She said the losses are more than financial.

"It’s not just about them stealing your stuff, it’s about them stealing your labor," Green said. Work for her August harvest starts in the winter, months before bouquets reach the roadside stand.

"These snapdragons, I start them in January," she said. "I have to feed them; I have to baby them. You’re crying over these plants, then someone steals them from you."

Honor codes tested

As long as honor system farm stands have been around, there have been thefts from them, Southold Police Chief Steven Grattan said in an interview.

Though no thefts have been reported this year, Grattan said surveillance footage has helped nab offenders in the past. He understands farmers’ frustrations with these crimes, which are typically petit larcenies, but still urges police reports to be filed.

"It’s discouraging, but the fact that we still have so many farm stands that operate on the honor system, I think, is a reflection of the character of this community and the good ethics of the people in this community," Grattan said.

In Riverhead, Police Chief Ed Frost said the department has responded to four farm stand larcenies over the past 18 months.

"While the monetary loss in some of these incidents may be relatively small, the Riverhead Police Department recognizes the significant impact that theft can have on small businesses and local agricultural operators," Frost said in a statement. "Taking merchandise or money without paying is theft, regardless of the amount involved."

Kim Endres, who runs a roadside flower stand on Flanders Road in Riverhead, said while an occasional bouquet is stolen, her cash box has been a frequent target, even if it only ever has a few dollars in it at a time.

She’s replaced the cash box at least three times since opening during the pandemic as a way to lift spirits with bright blooms.

"They wreck it," Endres said in an interview. "It’s just insane, because it’s empty. It’s for pocket change."

She keeps a spreadsheet detailing nearly 20 incidents, many of which she’s reported to police. But Endres said she hasn’t pursued charges because penalties amount to a "slap on the wrist" and she worries about retaliation.

"They’re not going to go to jail, they’re not going to have to pay you back. There has to be some repercussions," she said.

Endres, like other proprietors of self-serve stands, has contemplated closing it down or switching to e-payments only, but she said she doesn’t want to disappoint loyal customers or alienate people who don’t use payment apps.

"There are good people that pay. I don’t want to take [the stand] away, because it was so meaningful to people."

Finding the right balance

As Jocelyn Pendleton prepared to open a self-serve stand at her family’s pasture-raised lamb farm in Riverhead this summer, she considered a delicate balance: preserving an honor system while not leaving her farm stand vulnerable.

"It’s a little bit nerve-wracking," she said in an interview at the farm, setting out fresh eggs and raspberries and filling small coolers with lamb meat.

To combat potential loss, payment is fully digital and stock is minimal. Pendleton avoids putting out bigger-ticket items and more expensive cuts to avoid problems and said everyone’s been honest so far.

Pendleton, who runs the farm with her husband, Matt, said they both work full-time jobs and deciding to open a self-serve stand came down to time management.

"Every spare minute we have, we really are focused on animal care, maintaining equipment and the farmwork," she said.

And the honor system remains a point of pride in the agricultural community.

"The food that’s produced here is produced for our community, and it’s important to us that people are able to access it when we can’t be right on-site all of the time," Pendleton said. "That’s one of the great things about farming on the North Fork."