They're small but mighty, virtually indestructible once they take to the wing, will eat anything green, and their numbers are currently blooming right across the region.
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For one Moree producer who found locusts on his property, he says this plague has the potential to be "worse than the drought". Andrew Pitman said about Christmas time, he had heard the buzz about locusts in the area.
"I stumbled some nymphs on the ground at my farm which is east of Moree, so I contacted the [Local Land Service], was given some chemicals, and we've been combatting them every since."
LLS Biosecurity Officers have been issuing chemical to landholders now reporting banding locust nymphs in the Moree, Goondiwindi, North Star, Yetman and Warialda areas.
Mr Pitman said it required a lot of vigilance to keep on top of the numbers, however notes without the cooperation of other landholders, his singular efforts will be futile.
Through his work as a stock and station agent, said many landholders still didn't think they had an issue.
"But they are not looking at the hard country and finding them until they four or five millimetres long. By the time they start hitting your windscreen, it's too late - the game is over," he said.
Adult Australian Plague Locusts were observed across the North West and Northern Tablelands regions throughout late spring and early summer of 2020.
LLS senior biosecurity officer with North West David Lindsay said they've have been working with landholders since early December, when these adult locusts laid eggs.
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"Control of plague locusts is most effective during the third instar nymph growth stage," he explains.
Mr Pitman said with such a wonderful season after so many years of drought, this is an imperative time to save the crops and not let them be taken by grasshoppers, "which could be a disaster on a similar level to what the drought was".
"The first good crop gives hope and the second helps restore business."
