They can feed on soybean leaves and pods allowing molds to destroy the beans. Migratory grasshoppers are slightly larger and difficult to distinguish from the red-legged. They are considered more damaging since they feed on most grasses and cultivated crops. It will live up to its name by flying many miles to find food. It is easy to identify by its size, color and the black chevron shaped markings on its large jumping legs.
Differential grasshoppers are well adapted to feeding on cultivated crops and are also good fliers.
Size and age of grasshoppers make a big difference in the effectiveness of control. Small, newly hatched grasshoppers take much less pesticide to kill. Often they are confined to field margins, waterways, ditch banks, and roadsides that are easier to spray than crop fields. The economic threshold is 7 to 10 grasshoppers per square yard outside the field and 3 or more grasshoppers per plant within the field. Many insects will likely be a problem this year.