MONTPELIER, St James — Agriculture Minister Floyd Green has chided his Opposition counterpart Dr Dayton Campbell for proposing solutions to praedial larceny that are already in place.

“Sometimes we have to research the ideas before we talk about them, or we will bring nothing new to the table,” Green said during Monday’s staging of the 42nd Montpelier Agricultural Show in St James.

The minister was responding to Dr Campbell’s suggestion that the burden of providing proof of ownership should rest with individuals found with produce, not farmers who have made complaints that their property has been stolen.

“We want to move the burden of proof from the claimant, the person who is alleging that their things were stolen, to the person that is the defendant. We have realised that if I plant breadfruit or ackee I would not have any identifying mark on those items; so if they are stolen it becomes difficult for you to prove that it was your item,” Dr Campbell told those gathered for the annual event.

“The person that is therefore caught in possession must be the individual who has the burden to prove that it is theirs. And we want to ensure that we can do these things [so] that persons do not suffer the indignity of losing their hard work to those who seek to reap what they did not plant,” he added.

But Green noted that the ticketing system was already in place to address that issue.

“It is already in the system that if you have agricultural produce and the police stop you, you have to say where you get it from, so that is not new. That is why we have a receipt book system,” the minister said.

“We have strengthened the penalties. It used to be that if you get caught it’s $250,000 maximum, six months in prison maximum. We said that was too small. We have already moved that [to] $3 million [or] three years if you are caught — especially on things like transporting agricultural produce and you cannot say where you get it from,” Green pointed out.

“What we are bringing this year is agricultural wardens, more boots on the ground in areas where we have a problem with praedial larceny. We have already started recruitment; we have about 200 waiting to be trained and we want to reel out the first 100 this year,” the minister disclosed.

That was good news for 82-year-old former goat farmer Herbert “Maas B” Bell who said he had been plagued by thieves for years.

“This is something I truly welcome. This will definitely be helpful in protecting not only goat farmers but all farmers who are losing to thieves,” said the senior citizen who recently retired from goat farming due to a long-standing back ailment.

According to Bell, thieves were not his only worry.

“I have suffered great losses to thieves and dogs that attacked my animals over the years. But, I didn’t give up,” he said.

Bell’s dedication did not go unnoticed. He was one of three individuals honoured for their contributions to the Montpelier show’s development during the Easter Monday staging.

The other awardees were chairman of the Tourism Enhancement Fund Godfrey Dyer and former St James Southern Member of Parliament Derrick Kellier, who was recommended for lifetime membership in the Jamaica Agricultural Society.

In addition to being recognised at the Montpelier Agricultural Show, Bell, who placed second in the Goat Farmer Champion category at a staging of the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show, was also honoured for his outstanding contribution to ruminant support at the Hague Agricultural and Industrial Show in his native parish of Trelawny on Ash Wednesday.

On Monday, president of the St James Branch of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) Glendon Harris lauded Bell for his outstanding contribution to the Montpelier Agricultural Show.

“After we started to have the bigger Montpelier Agricultural Show, Mr Bell was the one that I spoke to as an ardent goat farmer — and he answered the call. He organised himself and the other farmers around him to take goats into the Montpelier Agricultural Show, and he even found an experienced judge of goats to come to the show and ensured that the judging is also right,” Harris said.

The theme for the Montpelier Agricultural Show 2025 was: ‘Grow what we eat and eat what we grow’.