These warnings have alerted farmers and government to the need to identify and monitor risk areas in the months leading up to the locust hatching season from September to November.
Grain crops are particularly at risk.
The APLC predicts a major outbreak of plague locusts representing significant threats to grain crops in large areas of NSW, South Australia and parts of Victoria. The Agriculture Protection Board in Western Australia has identified and been monitoring potentially massive outbreaks of locust activity from Moora to Esperance. This current locust threat is envisaged to be considerably worse than these. Egg hatchings in Western Australia are expected to accelerate in early October. The plague locust is the most recurring and potentially damaging of the three.