Sorry to hear about your screwed up weekend. It really sounds like there is a lot more to this story than your farmer friend passed on. Having grown up on a farm and still having many relatives farming I would have to say that your farmer is full of it. The deer, bear, and geese eat their weight in beans and corn every day in our neck of the woods. He should be paying you for the beans you saved by shagging the geese and deer off the field. Crop damages each year are many times more than your son's friend could pull out by hand. If four plants is an issue, the field must be the size of a postage stamp. I would be watching in the next couple of weeks to see who your farmer friend has leased out his land to. Sounds like he is looking out for a cash crop that is larger than soybeans.