Australia

Australian farmers bracing themselves for locust plague
Associated Press, April 27, 2000

Farmers across New South Wales state were bracing themselves Thursday for a locust plague believed to be heading their way after a wet summer provided the insects with ideal breeding conditions. Large numbers of the insects are expected to spread across the state next week following a massive outbreak in the state's west. "This is the most serious threat of a major plague occurring for 15 years," said New South Wales Agriculture executive director Geoff File. File said controlling the locusts had proved difficult because of the huge bulk of vegetation masking them and flood waters that have limited spraying. "Above average rainfall over summer has seen large numbers of locusts mature to egg laying and migration and despite a widespread control campaign there remains a significantly large population which could cause major problems in spring," File said. The next week was expected to be critical as a change in weather moves through and winds changed direction. File said winds could help spread the destructive insects into southern New South Wales and as far as southern states Victoria and South Australia.

Locust Threat Concerns Australia
Farmers Weekly Interactive, September 25, 2000

Australian grain growers and graziers in five states are bracing themselves for a hatching of plague locusts that has the potential to wreak $A500 million-worth (US$273m/£188m) of damage. The Australian Plague Locust Commission had estimated that the damage bill to crops and pastures could be the highest on record, according to a story in The Land newspaper. Swarms of grasshoppers were blown south from Queensland during the autumn dust storms. While these adult locusts are now dead, the agricultural community is closing watching their eggs. There are two major bands of locust eggs spread across Australia. The largest covers south-west Queensland, the entire western grain belt of New South Wales, northern Victoria and the whole eastern region of South Australia. The other band of eggs covers the grain belt of Australia's largest wheat producing state, Western Australia. The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resources Economics (ABARE) already has reduced the country's national wheat crop forecast due to the presence of locust eggs in WA.

Crops in western NSW are expected to come under attack any day now as the locust eggs begin to hatch, while in southern NSW, northern Victoria and South Australia the danger time is mid-October. The Land reports that authorities in South Australia are tipping the outbreak could be the worst since 1955, while in NSW and Victoria, it is shaping as the worst in at least a decade. Farmers throughout eastern Australia have enjoyed good winter rains, which should boost wheat yields, but the APLC says these rains have also assisted the development of eggs.