Crackdown on plague locusts to protect record crop

The Malinauskas Government is investing $6.5 million to help protect the state’s farmers and regional communities from a potential locust outbreak, including significant rebates for primary producers to prepare.

South Australian primary producers are enjoying one of their strongest seasons in years, with above average autumn and winter rainfall supporting the establishment of grain crops across more than 4.2 million hectares – the state’s largest area of sown crops on record.

To help our farmers achieve the strongest possible result, the Malinauskas Government is taking decisive action amid a warning from the SA Locust Commissioner that a damaging locust outbreak is a real possibility over the coming spring and summer months.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) will be funded to deliver coordinated and regionally targeted activities including surveillance to determine where locusts are hatching, their density and what controls are necessary.

The Malinauskas Government’s plague locust preparedness package includes:

• $1.9 million for planning, procurement and surveillance, including up to six weeks of targeted spring surveillance in areas considered most at risk.
• $4.6 million Chemical Rebate Scheme for landholders, supporting eligible producers by covering the costs of chemicals to reduce or eliminate the cost of controlling locusts on their properties.

Increased adult locust activity was reported in the Mallee, Riverland, Flinders Ranges and Eyre Peninsula during autumn, prompting concerns that these pests have laid eggs across multiple regions.

If they hatch in spring, those eggs could produce concentrated bands of juvenile locusts – known as hopper bands – that are capable of causing significant damage to crops and pastures before developing into highly mobile adult swarms.

Control methods supported by the plague locust preparedness package will vary according to the landscape, land use, locust density and level of risk to agriculture, communities and sensitive sites.

The juvenile hopper stage provides the best opportunity to effectively control locusts, targeting the pests while they are concentrated and yet to develop into roaming adults.

The Chemical Rebate Scheme will commence on 1 September and run through the high-risk season until 14 February, reimbursing the cost of chemicals that have been purchased by landholders to control locusts and applied between 1 September and 31 December at up to $35 per hectare.

The South Australian Government will continue to work with landholders, industry, local government and the Australian Plague Locust Commission.

Report any sightings of Australian plague locusts to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881, or using the online form on the PIRSA website.