A peach has been plucked off a tree.

About 600 peaches just before harvest were stolen from this peach orchard in the city of Date in Fukushima Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.

The stolen peaches were valued at around 180,000 yen.

The farmer noticed the theft on the morning of August 27 upon returning to the orchard after having finished work the previous day and gone home.

The farmer filed a police report.

Police are investigating the case as theft and have increased patrols in the surrounding area.

Peaches ready for harvest have been targeted at other orchards as well.

Farmer
I wonder why they were gone. It makes me angry.

At this peach orchard in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, all the fruit were stripped from one of its 30 peach trees.

The approximately 50 peaches were worth about 18,000 yen.

The grower said the peaches had been left on the tree until just before harvest to maximize their sweetness when the theft occurred.

Farmer 
As farmers, we make our living by selling fruit, so when something like this happens it makes life difficult. I want the stolen peaches returned.

Police are investigating the incident as a theft case.