NEAR MCCORD -- A southwest Saskatchewan farmer is reeling after thieves took off with more than $60,000 worth of organic spring wheat.

Gary Munford, an organic farmer south of McCord, told CTV News he was loading the wheat from his grain bins into a truck to sell when he was surprised to find the bin ran empty after only a few truckloads.

“I must’ve had a funny look on my face,” Munford recalled. “The trucker said ‘are you okay’, and I said ‘well not really, there should’ve been at least two if not close to three more truckloads in that bin’.”

Confusion quickly turned to suspicion as Munford and police now suspect the missing grain was stolen.

RCMP are currently searching for the suspects in the grain heist, which is believed to have occurred between January 1 and February 23.

“Three Super Bs would take what I’m missing and it’d be done just like that,” Munford said. “They’d be in and gone in less than an hour probably or an hour and a half.”

These prairie pirates were careful in covering their tracks.

Munford said he and his wife were away on holidays this winter and suspect that’s when the theft happened.

He adds neighbours were checking the yard daily, leading him to believe it was done in the dead of night.

“I would have to say the rural part of Saskatchewan is a very close knit farming community, they watch out for everybody,” Munford said. “You’re watching. Always watching. Things like this just don’t happen because we do that. We support each other.”

Since it was the wintertime, any tracks would be erased by the wind or a light snow.

Finally, Munford said none of his equipment was moved, meaning the culprit had at least a truck to haul it and the necessary equipment to get the grain out of the bin.

“I put power into my bins last year, aeration bins,” Munford explained. “I would think whoever come in probably had an electric auger. They’re virtually silent so no one would hear it.”

Police agree serious thought was put in to how the operation would work.

“Whoever took it did some planning and actually had to kind of have the equipment there to move such a large amount of product,” said Cpl. Rob King with RCMP “F” Division.

King said thefts of this kind are uncommon, but not completely unheard of.

“It’s a difficult product to steal, it’s a difficult product to find a market and a buyer for, so it is unusual,” King said.

As for where the grain is now, Munford fears it could be nearly untraceable if it was mixed in with other wheat.

“Pretty low when you go and take a man’s livelihood,” Munford said. “This is a substantial amount of grain.”

“It’s right out of my pocket.”

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact Ponteix RCMP or Crime Stoppers.

Munford said he’s hopeful someone will come forward with information that can help restore some of his livelihood.

Either way, he’s onto a new growing season and plans to keep pushing ahead.