State Of Emergency Declared In Southern Russia: At Least 800K Hectares Hit By Locust Swarms

[hatrack]

Moscow (CNN)Millions of locusts have descended on farmlands in southern Russia, devouring entire fields of crops and causing officials to declare a state of emergency in the region. A vast area of at least 800,000 hectares is currently being affected as the swarms of insects, each measuring about 8 centimeters long, annihilate fields of corn and other crops.

It's been more than 30 years since this part of southern Russia suffered such a dense plague of locusts, according to local officials. Officials say at least 10% of crops have already been destroyed, and the locust feeding frenzy is far from over, threatening to devastate the livelihoods of local farmers.

Walking through what remains of his corn field in the Stavropol region, one farmer, Pyotr Stepanchenka, looks distraught. "Look," he says to the camera, "there is nothing left of the corn. The locusts ate it all, from the leaves to the cobs."

On state television, Russian news broadcasts are linking the plague to climate change, connecting the phenomenon to recent flooding amid higher than average temperatures.

EDIT

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/04/europe/russia-locust-swarms/

[GreatGazoo]

1. Monoculture + monoculture = disaster

Sounds like they need diversity and some predators.

[Demeter]

2. The US had locust swarms in the past

The solution was pesticides--massive amounts of pesticides. Plus better management of the wastes and the land...adding nitrogen fertilizer...

[GreatGazoo]

3. another solution brought about extinction of the Rocky Mountain Locust:

The settlers brought along insect-eating birds, planted new, habitat-altering plants and let their cattle stomp the ground. Pioneers also nearly eradicated beavers, a change that brought flooding that probably killed off eggs and young locusts. But perhaps most damaging was the farming itself.

''People plowed up hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these egg masses,'' destroying them, said Dr. Lockwood. ''It's just a vivid image of eggs littering the fields.''

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/science/looking-back-at-the-days-of-the-locust.html?pagewanted=1