Melanoplus sanguinipes, a migratory grasshopper, are eating the Russian olive trees of a shelterbelt beside a farm field, in Malta, MT, on July 17, 2021.
This protective windbreak provides the adjacent farm field against wind erosion of the soil. The damage an overpopulation of grasshoppers leave on farms, rangeland, and prairies has a negative economic impact on farmers and ranchers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is working with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies, organizations, and institutions to conduct survey and suppression activities in the Western States to reduce grasshopper and Mormon cricket damage and protect valuable agricultural resources and rangeland. Grasshoppers and Mormon crickets are natural components of the rangeland ecosystem; however, when their populations reach outbreak levels, farmers and ranchers face serious economic losses. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung. Original public domain image from Flickr