Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=593010
Locusts join drought to threaten Australian crops
SYDNEY, July 7 (Reuters) - Australian wheat farmers, already battling a return of drought conditions, face the risk of swarms of locusts sweeping across the country's main eastern grains belt in coming months.
The government of New South Wales state on the weekend announced that 65 percent of the state was now in drought, up by 2.3 percentage points over the past month.
"Farmers could soon have another battle on their hands, with an emergent threat of locust plagues in spring," state Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said in a statement.
Most of the locust infestation was expected in central and southwest regions of the state, also where the drought was hitting hardest, Macdonald said.
Locust outbreaks are a perennial threat to Australia's wheatfields. A major outbreak in 2000, possibly the worst in 30 years, involved an estimated 100 billion of the insects.
Australia's last major locust outbreak occurred in 2004/05, when billions hatched along a 1,000 kilometre front, mainly in the central west of New South Wales.
A massive campaign involving both ground and aerial spraying saved crops, but fears were high that the insects would cause major losses.
Drought typically reduces the threat of locusts by reducing the amount of available feed. However, only minor amounts of rain can produce enough vegetation to encourage outbreaks of the insects.
Chris Adriaansen, director of the Australian Plague Locust Commission, told Reuters on Monday that locusts in the new potential outbreak had migrated to central and southwest parts of the state last autumn.
Continued drought in these areas could reduce the extent of the threat, but still leave some hot spots remaining, he said.
Authorities were still attempting to assess the seriousness of the threat and would not know until early to mid-September if the new threat was of the same seriousness as in 2004/05, he said.
"If the winter continues to be reasonably mild, if we get some reasonable rainfall so that when the nymphs emerge they have some vegetation to eat, we can expect a reasonable amount of locust activity," he said.
Ian Macdonald said that 95 percent of New South Wales' 5.18 million hectare winter crop had been sown, but rainfall in June had been disappointing.
"June was a horror month for the southwestern regions, where little rain fell," he said, citing falls of 10 millimetres (0.4 inch) to 17 millimetres for the entire month in some areas.
"These are disappointing monthly rain measurements. Ideally these cropping areas would have liked to receive in excess of 40 mm to get the crop in and then another 40 mm as follow-up rains," he said.
More northern parts of the state received patchy falls of between 38 millimetres at Moree and 80 mm at Tamworth.
"Early sown crops on good moisture have grown well, but farmers are now desperate for solid falls following mild weather in most parts," he said. (Reporting by Michael Byrnes; Editing by Ben Tan)
Locusts join drought to threaten Australian crops
SYDNEY, July 7 (Reuters) - Australian wheat farmers, already battling a return of drought conditions, face the risk of swarms of locusts sweeping across the country's main eastern grains belt in coming months.
The government of New South Wales state on the weekend announced that 65 percent of the state was now in drought, up by 2.3 percentage points over the past month.
"Farmers could soon have another battle on their hands, with an emergent threat of locust plagues in spring," state Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said in a statement.
Most of the locust infestation was expected in central and southwest regions of the state, also where the drought was hitting hardest, Macdonald said.
Locust outbreaks are a perennial threat to Australia's wheatfields. A major outbreak in 2000, possibly the worst in 30 years, involved an estimated 100 billion of the insects.
Australia's last major locust outbreak occurred in 2004/05, when billions hatched along a 1,000 kilometre front, mainly in the central west of New South Wales.
A massive campaign involving both ground and aerial spraying saved crops, but fears were high that the insects would cause major losses.
Drought typically reduces the threat of locusts by reducing the amount of available feed. However, only minor amounts of rain can produce enough vegetation to encourage outbreaks of the insects.
Chris Adriaansen, director of the Australian Plague Locust Commission, told Reuters on Monday that locusts in the new potential outbreak had migrated to central and southwest parts of the state last autumn.
Continued drought in these areas could reduce the extent of the threat, but still leave some hot spots remaining, he said.
Authorities were still attempting to assess the seriousness of the threat and would not know until early to mid-September if the new threat was of the same seriousness as in 2004/05, he said.
"If the winter continues to be reasonably mild, if we get some reasonable rainfall so that when the nymphs emerge they have some vegetation to eat, we can expect a reasonable amount of locust activity," he said.
Ian Macdonald said that 95 percent of New South Wales' 5.18 million hectare winter crop had been sown, but rainfall in June had been disappointing.
"June was a horror month for the southwestern regions, where little rain fell," he said, citing falls of 10 millimetres (0.4 inch) to 17 millimetres for the entire month in some areas.
"These are disappointing monthly rain measurements. Ideally these cropping areas would have liked to receive in excess of 40 mm to get the crop in and then another 40 mm as follow-up rains," he said.
More northern parts of the state received patchy falls of between 38 millimetres at Moree and 80 mm at Tamworth.
"Early sown crops on good moisture have grown well, but farmers are now desperate for solid falls following mild weather in most parts," he said. (Reporting by Michael Byrnes; Editing by Ben Tan)