TULELAKE, Calif. — John Crawford first noticed the horde of grasshoppers descending on his Klamath Basin farm in early July.

The voracious pests started in his grain crops, completely devouring one 60-acre field of organic barley worth about $105,000. Over the next several weeks, it only got worse, Crawford said. Driving around certain areas, he noticed dead grasshoppers piled nearly 5 inches high on the side of the road.

“I’ve seen lots of grasshoppers in the basin here over time,” said Crawford, 76. “I started to see this was unprecedented.”

Farmers and ranchers across parts the arid West have been battling outbreaks of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets for several years now — including recent reports from Eastern Oregon. Drought creates ideal conditions for the insects to thrive, allowing for more eggs to hatch and stifling predators or diseases that normally limit their numbers.

For producers, the economic damage can add up quickly.

According to research from the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Washington State University, 15 to 20 grasshoppers per square yard in a 40-acre field of alfalfa will eat up to 1 ton of hay per day. Seven grasshoppers per square yard over 10 acres of rangeland can eat the equivalent of one cow feeding throughout the season.

“I definitely think we’re in the tens of millions of dollars range,” said Moss Driscoll, water policy director for the Klamath Water Users Association. “I think folks are cautiously optimistic that it could be managed to some extent, but the impacts are definitely widespread and very real.”

Surveys and treatment

Lauren Henderson, acting director for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said staff spent 4-5 days surveying grasshoppers around Klamath Falls.

The Klamath Basin spans about 12,000 square miles in south-central Oregon and Northern California.

Henderson said the grasshopper population in some fields is “very high,” though he did not have an exact figure. Unfortunately, he said there is little that producers can do at this late stage to keep the infestation at bay.

“This is something that has to be done in the spring in order to see an effect in the summer,” Henderson said. “Anything we talk about now is really for next year.”

To control grasshoppers and Mormon crickets, Henderson said land managers rely on a pesticide called Dimilin that inhibits the insects’ ability to grow as nymphs. Once they are adults, it is too late for Dimilin to be effective.

Treatment also needs to be coordinated across communities, Henderson said. If one farm sprays for grasshoppers but another doesn’t, it won’t solve the problem.

Last year, the Oregon Legislature approved a one-time allocation of $5 million for grasshopper and Mormon cricket suppression. The majority of funding was set aside for a cost-share program to help farmers and ranchers pay for treatments. However, Henderson said money was not renewed for that program in 2023.

One producer in the Klamath Basin told the agency he has spent $50,000 battling grasshoppers in his crops.

“It’s just one more thing for producers in our state that they’re having to deal with,” Henderson said.

Water management

Driscoll, with the KWUA, said the grasshopper invasion is another symptom of federal mismanagement of the Klamath Project.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provided a reduced water allocation of 260,000 acre-feet for the project in 2023 — about 65% of normal demand. The allocation was just 82,253 acre-feet in 2022, and the A Canal was shut off entirely in 2021 to meet water requirements for endangered fish.

Not only is water in the Klamath Project used to irrigate farmland, but also to fill marshes in each of two national wildlife refuges that are key stops for migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway. Years of cutbacks now mean parts of the refuges are bone dry for the first time in modern memory.

This is where the grasshoppers appear to be coming from, Driscoll said.

“We make the argument that this is a perfect sign of the mismanagement of water that’s occurring right now,” he said.

Crawford, whose family farms near Tulelake, Calif., said he is doing what he can to treat grasshoppers, though options are limited in his organic grains and potatoes. Organic pesticides don’t work particularly well on the pests, he said.

“I don’t like to place blame on entities or people, but had (Reclamation) had the foresight to more properly control the water, the refuges would have been wet,” Crawford said. “That is not only in the best interest of the waterfowl and animals that utilize the habitat, but that’s in the best interest of the American people.”