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Hatching a locust horror
22 Mar 2004
Although they're not officially a plague, the swarms of locusts now chewing their way through western New South Wales threaten to be a big danger to crops, pastures and the farm economy by next Spring. Unless NSW has a freezing Winter, farmers can expect locusts to be present - and laying eggs - for the next four months in most of the northern and central inland of NSW. The Australian Plague Locust Commission says if current weather patterns continue, the locust populations will be much more threatening by September or October.
APLC has sprayed over 172,000 hectares in the past month but surviving swarms have flown south from Queensland at the rate of about 300 kilometres a night. The NSW Agriculture Minister has made assurances that enough spray is on hand to deal with new hatchings for at least the next five weeks and more supplies have been ordered.
The Land, 18/3/04.
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