Australia's drought has finally broken - and with the flooding has come huge numbers of locusts across south-western Queensland, the Riverina, central and western New South Wales, the Eyre Penninsula, northern Tasmania, and this week, Victoria. Locusts have already devastated crops of livestock feed across the country, and farmers are now putting their planting programs on hold to try and minimize further damage.
The locusts still have two more generations of hatching remaining and excellent seasonal conditions inland mean that locust egg numbers have doubled. If weather conditions over the winter are right, this spring Australia will see one of the biggest locust plagues the country has seen since 1973.
The vast spread of the locust infestation is the crux of the problem. As locusts are most effectively annihilated in their nympheal stage, the government is preparing for an extensive spring campaign to minimize devastation to crops.
This blog will look at how farmers, the Australian Plague Locust Commission's and state agencies are preparing for the outbreak in the coming months.
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