Drought-Punched CO Farmers Now Facing Plagues Of Grasshoppers, Mites, Corn Rootworms - Denver Post

[hatrack]

Colorado farmers already plagued by a debilitating drought are now fighting the arrival of crop-eating insects who like the hot, dry weather that has settled over the state and elsewhere. "It's to the point where we just feel beat up," said Harry Strohauer, who has already let 500 acres of corn on his 3,500-acre Weld County spread die to conserve water.

Grasshoppers, an annual threat to corn and other plants, are back this year in huge numbers in some areas of Colorado, say agriculture experts.

That includes Strohauer's farm, which also grows potatoes for local retailers. On Thursday, as Strohauer walked down a row of dying corn stalks, swarms of grasshoppers leaped around his head after tearing holes through what used to be a viable crop. In another field, the pests have gnawed entire rows of corn to the ground.

Strohauer said he and other farmers who are watching their once green fields fade away, face the same pricey dilemma. "Do you spend as much as $35 to $45 an acre to spray your fields that are dying, or do you forget about it but guarantee your fields won't stand a chance at all of surviving," he said. Just eight grasshoppers can eat as much as one cow, according to experts. But they aren't even the biggest problem this year.


EDIT

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21113805/first-drought-now-pests-are-descending-parched-colorado

[The Blue Flower]

1. Sounds to me like Focus on the Family

isn't praying hard enough.

[Iggy]

2. Revelations

in the Bible anyone?

[LiberalEsto]

3. Plagues of locusts and Republicans

although technically there isn't much difference between the two

[NickB79]

4. I was wondering when the locusts would arrive

Seriously, I started seeing grasshoppers in my garden this week and that was my first thought.