By PR Extension Office

More than eighty producers in Powder River County have indicated an interest in assistance through APHIS (Animal, Plant Health Inspection Service), for help suppressing grasshoppers in the summer of 2021, according to MSU Powder River Extension Agent Mary Rumph.

“The number of acres reported to date includes 496,000 Private, 60,000 State and 267,000 Federal for a total of 823,000 acres,” said Rumph.

Currently, 1.5 million dollars has been allocated for the entire state of Montana by the USDA, accordingly to Gary Adams, Plant Protection State Plant Health Director, Montana. Adams is gathering data from counties throughout the state to determine the size and scope of the potential problem. The 1.5 million “would cover about half of what Powder River County, alone, has projected,” said Adams.

“We are certainly in the early stages of planning a grasshopper suppression program,” said Rumph. “There is obviously a great need, as expressed by the number of phone calls and acres submitted at an estimated $3/acre fee.”

Rumph listed many variables to a successful program including:

• The need – for some reason, the eggs do not hatch, or early mortality at the first and second instar;

• Moisture conditions – a continued drought would be devastating with or without grasshoppers;

• Funding from federal and state agencies;

• Contractors available for hire.

“These are just a few of the uncertainties that need to be worked through between now and the first of June,” said Rumph. “I appreciate the calls and questions from producers, it helps in determining the size and scope of the potential problem,” concluded Rumph.