SYRACUSE, KAN. ? While the current high wheat prices are great news for Kansas, they’re also having a negative effect: grain theft.

Authorities are investigating a series of thefts that netted 9,000 bushels of grain worth $52,000 from the Syracuse Co-op Exchange. Wheat prices have been hovering around $9 a bushel over the past several months.

Kansas Farmers Service Association attorney Terry Bertholf said the group is counseling elevators on how to prevent thefts.

Bertholf said that in one scheme, someone called an elevator saying his semi engine was hot and he needed to stop by. While stopped, the person said, he might as well sell the grain.