Australia to be hit by plague of locusts on a scale not seen since records began.

www.independent.co.uk...

Australia's Darling river is running with water again after a drought in the middle of the decade reduced it to a trickle. But the rains feeding the continent's fourth-longest river are not the undiluted good news you might expect. For the cloudbursts also create ideal conditions for an unwelcome pest – the Australian plague locust.

Worth keeping an eye on this one... The plague is predicted to completely wreck this year’s crops with South Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria due to take the brunt of it. Be interested to hear the opinions of any ATS Ozzies out there...

I really do hope its not as bad as predicted!!

WHAT?! The locust are coming?

Everybody, grab your shotguns, assault rifles,grenades. We will be launching a massive operation to combat this dire threat to humanity. Our Commander In Chief, from the battlefield of Gears Of War, will coordinate this operation.

locusts are freaky

if this happened it would be the icing on the cake for 2010's weather

I was wondering how they can predict this - are the locusts located at a certain place in large numbers and they know the will arrive at a certain area and destroy the crops. I remember stories of this happening in the US and it was devastating - I hope the prediction is wrong!

reply to post by crazydaisy


I think they predict it because of the weather patterns...

The warm, wet weather that prevailed last summer meant that three generations of locusts were born, each one up to 150 times larger than the previous generation. After over-wintering beneath the ground, the first generation of 2010 is already hatching. And following the wettest August in seven years, the climate is again perfect. The juveniles will spend 20 to 25 days eating and growing, shedding their exoskeletons five times before emerging as adults, when population pressure will force them to swarm.

Check out the link in my OP (which i have just fixed, sorry)

Thanks

Does Australia import or export the likes of corn, wheat, barley and other grain crops?

Russia has already had a huge hit to their production due to droughts and fire this year.

The perfect storm in food supplies? Awfully convenient coincidences. I do not believe in coincidences.

Make no mistake, if these juvenile locusts are not contained the results will be devastating. We are VERY worried!


The Australian Plague Locust Commission (APLC) undertakes monitoring of locust populations in inland eastern Australia and manages outbreaks that have the potential to inflict significant damage to agriculture in more than one member state as a result of population build-up and migration.

The APLC is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the member states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

High density hatchings of locusts began in northern New South Wales in early September, and in the central west in the second week of September. This has been followed by hatchings near Broken Hill, in farming areas around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, and near Mildura in northwestern Victoria in mid-September.

Source: www.daff.gov.au...

Locations: www.daff.gov.au...

Grain Export Information:

Australia's warm climate and clean environment produces some of the world's best grains.

Total Australian grain exports are worth over A$5 billion annually.
Export grains include wheat, rice, barley, maize, oats, sunflowers, chick peas and cotton seed.
Wheat is Australia's most important grain crop - Australia exports about
A$4 billion worth of wheat each year, and accounts for 14 per cent of the world's export demand.

Read more about the importance of Australia's exports to our economy here:

www.dfat.gov.au...

reply to post by heffo7


That is not good news, meaning the exports. Hopefully the US and Canada can pick up the slack this year.

I know my area has been hit by a lot of floods. Should do a global search on grains this year.

Never fear Terry and his locust muncher will sort them out



meet the locust muncher

Australia will have a bumper crop this year so there will plenty for the locust to eat.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
reply to post by heffo7

 

That is not good news, meaning the exports. Hopefully the US and Canada can pick up the slack this year.

I know my area has been hit by a lot of floods. Should do a global search on grains this year.

Weather problems everywhere it seems.

www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com...;jsessionid=80E4DB735E0C94D4016A5558D846A72D.agfreejvm1?blogHandle=weather&blogEntryId=8 a82c0bc2a8c8730012b2f3fd83207cd

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Crop-killing frost swept through much of the Canadian Prairies for the second straight night on Friday, lowering the quality of the country's wheat, canola and oats. Killing frost also hit north-central Alberta on Friday, while spreading into most of the top crop-growing province of Saskatchewan.

Thankfully we don't have a very large population. We had such horrible weather this year, so wet many people couldn't even garden without sinking ankle deep. Not enough sunny days, even vegetable gardens that got planted were a total fail. Too short a growing season to even see corn where I am. Large fields flooded badly, then frosted already. Good thing our grain banks filled well last year, if next years weather is also bad, there might be problems.

Hopefully they are able to control the locusts, that's really scary stuff the way they destroy crops.

I can't seem to get the link working. It'll take you to the main site, just not to the article. Have to search on site for article "Canada done".

reply to post by cyberjedi


I would grab those things.

But I'm not allowed to have them. Alas I will not be able to take up any arms against this locust invasion.

Having been caught in the middle of several locust plagues out in the Riverina near Wagga over the years I can tell you that it is no laughing matter. The complete and utter devastation these little bastards cause is a major problem, and if we are going to see increased numbers this year then I hope to god they manage to poison them before they take to flight, or it's going to be a very hungry year for all of us.

OK i ain't no bible puncher but i couldn't help but think of pestelance....and famine...and nation rising up against nation, and stuff. I am only 40 years young and have never heard of a locust problem in my life time.

www.biblegateway.com... 24:7; Luke 21:11

Originally posted by Kryties
Having been caught in the middle of several locust plagues out in the Riverina near Wagga over the years I can tell you that it is no laughing matter. The complete and utter devastation these little bastards cause is a major problem, and if we are going to see increased numbers this year then I hope to god they manage to poison them before they take to flight, or it's going to be a very hungry year for all of us.

Just drove last weekend from Narrandera to Grafton (1000 odd kms) and have never seen the countryside looking so good. After 10+ years of drought I thought the farmers had it made this year. But unless the juveniles can be contained they will eat everything in sight. Not funny at all!

Does seem like we are in biblical end of times stuff *scratches head*