[/floatr]This year's cherry crop looks like being one of the best ever. One unfortunate consequence is that there has been an outbreak of cherry thefts with gangs stripping orchards bare at night. In one audacious raid (Japanese), 350kg of high grade cherries with a value of around one million yen were stolen in Yamagata. This came just a couple of days after a haul of 300kg was taken from an orchard in Aomori. One poor farmer lost 100kg last year and, a few days before he planned to start this year's harvest, he woke up and found that the thieves had made off with 200kg. Local agricultural cooperatives have stepped up cherry patrols to try to protect the crops.