To what extent are there laws specifically against this in your states? An aunt decided to "sample" some strawberries from a field in California once and received a citation when a law enforcement officer of some kind drove by. As I understand it, there are specific laws on the books there against this kind of pilfering. Don't know how much any of that is enforced in California anymore, but it made a lasting impression on her.

My wife is a photographer who shoots now and then in California farm country and has been questioned a couple of times by sheriff or CHP officers about what she was doing in an orchard or onion field, and she figured they were making sure she wasn't "grocery shopping".

A friend who farmed ground across the road from some apartments near Nashville had to quit growing corn on that land because the people were worse than crows, as he put it. These weren't rent-subsidized dwelling or housing projects, either. Among other people, he had caught college professors walking out with a few ears.