Invaders Feast on Crops

In Idaho, swarms of them can be seen from miles away, and troubled farmers speak of "watching the grasshoppers coming over the mountains." The insects are imperiling $1.1 billion worth of alfalfa, grain, beans and potatoes in southern Idaho. In South Dakota, grasshoppers, army worms and corn borers have laid waste to thousands of acres of crops.

This summer's severe insect infestation has also struck North Dakota, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nevada. Heavy snows, followed by a cool, damp spring, led to what farm experts called "a real good hatch" of grasshoppers. Idaho had requested $10 million in federal funds to spray with Malathion, the chemical used to combat the Mediterranean fruit fly. But experts question its use at this late stage. Says South Dakota Entomologist Ben Kantack: "If we spray now, we're just spraying for revenge."