Farmers with GPS equipment in their tractors have been warned to secure the devices at night after a spate of thefts since the beginning of the year.
GPS guidance systems on tractors are commonly used by tillage and potato farmers and many farmers face thousands of euro in replacement costs just as the planting season begins.
Earlier this month on a Sunday morning on his farm in Stamullen, Co Meath, Ivan Curran went to feed his cattle.
He noticed panels removed from his New Holland tractor and soon discovered it had been broken into and his GPS unit stolen.
"I looked around the cab, and the screen (GPS) was gone and the wires cut," Mr Curran said.
"My daughter checked the security cameras and we could see that lads came into the yard around ten to one in the morning."
Mr Curran says the intruders had one target in mind; the sophisticated GPS-based guidance systems that many farmers use on tractors to accurately guide their planting, fertilising and spraying of crops.
"These were not random thefts, the modem was located under panels, they had the right spanners, not just ordinary screwdrivers, they are hex head and they knew exactly how to take it out," he said.
Mr Curran, whose main business is growing potatoes for crisp company Tayto, is one of a number of farmers in his area who have had units stolen.
Some 13 GPS systems have been taken so far this month.
"The same night a neighbour of mine over the road had three taken from his tractors, a quarter of a mile down from our farm here, another neighbour got robbed the following night," he said.
"All within a seven kilometre radius around here."
Mr Curran said he is still waiting for his new GPS screen to arrive, but said he was lucky with the weather, being so wet so he would not have planted his potatoes yet anyway.
"When we get busy in another week or two, we'll be starting to plant potatoes and sow corn," he said.
"You could manage without it [the GPS] but it'd be very, very hard work."
The GPS robberies generally involve the theft of both a rooftop satellite receiver device or dome and the internal GPS screen.
Peter Thomas Keaveney, machinery specialist with the Irish Farmers Journal, said the thefts have been mainly in Leinster and Munster and Garda figures show there has been 25 incidences of GPS theft so far this year.
"The thieves are well versed and know exactly what they are looking for," he said.
"It looks like they are stealing to order because they are leaving older systems behind."
Similar thefts have taken place in other years, but the tally in the first two months of 2024 is the same as all of last year.
Gardaí are investigating and police forces around Europe are also dealing with GPS theft.
Earlier investigations show the systems are being sold around the world but mainly in Eastern Europe according to Mr Keaveney.
"Stolen Irish GPS systems have ended up in Mexico, North America, Lithuania, Georgia and Ukraine and this remains a big problem all over Europe," he said.
Mr Keaveney says replacing the GPS systems can cost up €15,000 and advises farmers to remove them from tractors at night if they can.
"Every single night they are going to have to remove the GPS system which is in two parts," he said.
"It's a huge inconvenience for farmers who could be working 18 or 20 hours a day planting potatoes or corn or other crops.
"Some systems might take five minutes to remove, others 15 minutes. It’s a huge issue for the farming community at the moment."
Around €250,000 worth of GPS hardware has been stolen from farms over the past two years, according to data collected by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA).
The value of stolen hardware ranges from €5,000 and €25,000, according to the IFA.
IFA deputy President Alice Doyle said the thefts impose huge increases in insurance costs and time as it could take four to five weeks to replace the equipment.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland Ms Doyle said: "These farmers are under severe pressure. They're unable now to use their GPS's in order to do their planting correctly.
"They can continue to do it, but it won't be done as nearly efficiently or as well as it would have been done had they had these pieces of equipment."
Ms Doyle said it GPS theft is a relatively new crime for Ireland, but is being seeing more and more in recent years.
She said those behind the thefts "know exactly where to go" and "obviously seem to have a market and that's why we would be asking, for example the gardaí, to maybe operate some more checkpoints in these areas because in certain areas are targeted".
Additional reporting Eithne Dodd
