-We don't know how to deal with it anymore. Every day, crowds of people enter our sunflower field, trample and uproot the plants. And when we chase them away, they still complain because they don't see anything wrong with it, complains Joanna Dregger, a farmer from Czarnków-Trzcianecki district in Greater Poland.
Sheep rushing into a sunflower
Many, many others found themselves in a similar situation, as sunflower cultivation in Poland has recently gained popularity. This is all due to the trend of taking photos among blooming sunflowers, promoted on social media. As a result, every Internet user from the city does not want to be worse off and goes to the countryside in search of sunflower plantations. They are helped by passionate photographers who share the locations of plantations in their regions. Madness is sweeping the entire country.
-A lady who caught me with an armful of our sunflowers explained that she had received a "pin" from a friend with the exact location of our field. It is apparently already circulating on the Internet. She didn't understand why I was angry with her, because many other people had done the same before her. She said that there are so many sunflowers growing here that if she cuts a bunch, we won't lose any, says a farmer from Greater Poland.
-We have about 4 hectares of sunflowers, unfortunately it's close to the road. If this continues, there will only be stalks left in the field, complains Joanna Dreger. -Is it so difficult to understand that you cannot destroy other people's property, that the farmer had to put a lot of money and hard work into this crop? – asks our Reader.
Young couples on the plantation
-I have already chased away several teams with equipment who, without asking, organized wedding sessions in my sunflower. They collect a lot of money from young couples, and they think they can destroy my crops for free. They trampled several dozen square meters because they needed space to set up lighting and tripods with cameras.
-One cameraman told a young couple to run around the field because he wanted to take "dynamic shots" – Jakub Kaniewski from Lower Silesia tells us. -And when I told him to pay for the damage, he pretended to be crazy. He believed that sunflowers grew on their own, in the wild, and not that someone cultivated them.
Tourist with a machete
A farmer from the Opole region found people with machetes on his plantation. They cut down sunflowers, probably to sell them as flowers in the city. He managed to scare them away, but he did not try to stop them for fear of his life.
-I would have to hire 24-hour security to look after my plantation, because my sunflowers are clearly visible from the "countryside". Every now and then, a car drives into the field and some chick takes a selfie, says Mr. Adam, who runs a farm near Lubin.
Beware of pins
The madness that is harmful to farmers has taken over social media and cannot be stopped. Photos among sunflowers have flooded the Internet, and the trend is gaining momentum. Therefore, it is worth checking on the Internet whether information about your field is circulating on Facebook groups, popular fanpages, profiles of local or nationwide influencers. A seemingly innocent "pin" with directions to a field, or even one photo circulating on the Internet, can ultimately deprive you of peace and a significant part of your harvest.
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