Invasion of the barley snatchers: crop circles cost farmers thousands in lost revenue
More than 40 football pitches’ worth of arable land has been affected by crop circles in England since 2018, according to an analysis carried out by the Guardian.
Farmers lost £30,000 in income between 2018 and 2022 as a result of 92 crop circles of varying sizes. The wheat and barley lost over the period could have made 300,000 loaves of bread, and the flattened rapeseed could have produced 600 litres of canola oil.
Crop circles have come under particular scrutiny this year for the unwelcome toll they are taking on farmers’ harvests at a time of global food crisis. Grain prices have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, with both countries major suppliers of crops to the global markets.
The price per tonne of wheat on London future markets has jumped 30% since 2021, while barley’s price has gone up by almost 40% – making crop circles substantially more damaging to farmers’ wallets.
“They wiped out all of the wheat, around three or four tonnes of it,” said George Hosford, a tenant farmer in North Dorset.
Hosford woke up on 18 July 2021 to find a crop circle had been created overnight in one of his fields, measuring 70m in diameter and with seven points of symmetry.
“Of course, I don’t believe this rubbish that it’s done by aliens,” Mr Hosford told the Guardian. “Funnily enough, pictures of the circle were up on the internet within hours.
“Yet it was in a really remote position. It couldn’t be overseen from anywhere aside from a small patch of my neighbour’s land – he was the one who pointed it out to me,” Hosford explained.
“It’s done by people using ropes, boards and ladders to flatten parts of the crop – and usually in wheat, because it’s fine and upstanding. Barley, on the other hand, leans a lot, so the patterns
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