Grasshoppers threaten to devour Alberta crops following extreme heat | 24CA News

Driven by drought, heat-loving grasshoppers are thriving in Alberta, threatening to devour crops in central and southern elements of the province.

Pest species of grasshoppers are taking wing early this 12 months — and swarming in larger numbers.

Robert Badry, who operates his household’s cereal farm close to Heisler, 160 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, mentioned half an acre of his wheat crop was devoured in a matter of days.

“The ground was literally moving with them,” he mentioned. “It was bare, you could see the soil. They just eat it to nothing.”

Grasshoppers have been lengthy been a menace to agricultural producers. Like locusts, the bugs are extremely harmful. Even a average infestation — 10 grasshoppers per sq. metre — can eat as much as 60 per cent of accessible vegetation.

This 12 months, the new and dry climate that fuelled historic wildfires in Alberta has contributed to a scourge of grasshoppers now threatening to strip already stunted crops.

Experts warn the infestations enhance the danger of future outbreaks and function a reminder of the necessity to higher monitor the pests.

Recent rains could have slowed down the grasshoppers — however solely quickly, as populations have been booming for years.

On his farm, Badry is worried in regards to the prospect of persistent outbreaks. 

He expects grasshoppers will transfer in once more when arid climate returns. His crops are already affected by lack of moisture, leaving them to vulnerable to poor yields and pests.

“Once the drought hits and then you see the grasshoppers, you can’t be surprised, they go hand in hand,” he mentioned. “They flourish in the drought and the dry.

“If it is not one factor it is one other this 12 months.” 

The Alberta government monitors grasshopper outbreaks and tracks populations through an annual count conducted each August.

Last year’s survey warned of the ongoing risk of outbreaks in southern Alberta and along the border with Saskatchewan. Infestations were found in isolated pockets in the Peace River region. In the south and east, numbers have been expanding since 2021, the survey found.

A plague of pests

Meghan Vankosky, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and co-chair of the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network, said 2023 is the worst year for grasshoppers she has seen in more than two decades.

After the wildfires and record rains in Alberta this year, it’s an anxious time for producers, Vankosky said.

“With the hearth and the flood, we’re speaking in regards to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, proper?” she quipped.

Vankosky urges farmers to keep close watch over their crops. As other food sources such as wild grasses, flowers and leafy plants dry out, grasshoppers will move onto crops for a meal.

“It’s not simply that we now have a number of grasshoppers this 12 months, it is that the crops aren’t essentially rising very properly and in order that harm is simply that rather more noticeable,” Vankosky said.

“They do are inclined to want cereals, oats, wheat, rye, barley … But in a drought 12 months, they will eat actually something they will discover.”

Although the life cycle varies between species, grasshoppers invariably thrive in heat.

Females lay eggs in soil late in the summer. After a winter just below the surface, nymphs hatch from their seed pods in spring. They feed on vegetation as they grow into adulthood, moult and grow wings.

Warm weather increases survival rates and accelerates each phase. The insect’s body temperature shoots up, allowing for faster growth and for females to produce more eggs, leading to increasingly bigger hatches each spring.

Vankosky said higher temperatures this year have allowed the insects to take wing early, flying to new food sources.

“When it is scorching, they develop quicker than regular, which is absolutely what we have seen this 12 months.”

Alberta is no stranger to outbreaks. In 2021, grasshoppers swarmed in Lethbridge, destroying fields and backyard gardens.

Before its extinction in the late 19th century, a grasshopper known as the Rocky Mountain locust swarmed across the West. Blizzards of the bugs would obscure the sun.

Grasshopper expert Dan Johnson, a professor of environmental science at the University of Lethbridge, recalls outbreaks in the 1980s when cars and trucks were forced off the road by clouds of grasshoppers hanging thick over highways.

Johnson describes this year’s infestations in Alberta as “patchy,” with isolated hot spots where populations are dense.

“Where they’re, they’re very heavy,” he said. “And it is a double whammy as a result of they arrive when the drought is already inflicting hassle.” 

Friend or foe

Johnson said pest populations have been creeping up since 2018. Recent infestations should serve as a reminder that not all grasshoppers pose a threat to producers, he said, adding that the pests can be selectively managed with pesticides.

Some species are harmless to crops and play an important part in the grasslands ecosystem, serving as meals for birds and other prey.

“There are about 50 pretty widespread species and solely about 5 of them are the unhealthy guys,” Johnson said.

Pest species include the clear-winged grasshopper, Packard’s grasshopper, the migratory grasshopper and the two-striped grasshopper, which is considered the largest threat.

The Bruner’s spur-throated grasshopper is a relatively new villain on the list of species prevalent in Alberta, Johnson said.

Populations of Bruner’s grasshoppers have shot up in recent years with numbers reported from Edmonton to the Peace River region. Johnson expects their range and numbers will continue to grow.

Governments and producers need to be better prepared for possible invasions, Johnson said.

The current surge in numbers has been made possible by sequential years of drought: warm, dry springs and hot early summers. If the trend continues, serious infestations will continue to escalate, he said. 

Grasshoppers and locusts are a global threat to food security and an international effort is required to knock back problem species, he said. Predicting population booms — and the extent of the damage that will be caused — can be incredibly difficult, but the risks must be managed.

“We can by no means actually wipe them out,” he said. “But if we are able to be sure that they do not get utterly out of hand, that is the best way to do it.”