Hot, dry weather has led to a localized severe outbreak of grasshoppers in the Qu’Appelle valley about 50 kilometers north of Regina at Fairy Hill.
Provincial insect specialist James Tansey says the heavy crop and pasture damage is around a three to four killometer area.
He says grasshoppers are in excess of 100 per square meter, far beyond the crop economic threshold of ten to 12 per square meter.
He says one pasture was heavily damaged and a nearby crop was 30 to 50 percent destroyed.
Tansey says the outbreak is localized but there are some possible hot spots near Kindersley and the southeast.
He suggests farmers monitor their crops to see if insecticides are necessary.
