8-2 FB Rohrbach Grasshoppers

 Wheat sounds like it’s going to be OK this year but remember the grasshoppers we discussed earlier this spring. Looks like they’re here!!! I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back with the story.

Early this spring we were interviewing experts about a potential attack from grasshoppers. Idaho Farm Bureau range expert Wally Butler claimed that the conditions were perfect for a plague…how’s that for alliteration. Anyway, we caught up with Idaho wheat, corn and hay farmer Clint Rohrbacher last week in his field and listen to what he was saying: “We’ve seen more grasshoppers this year than ever. In fact we’ve got it in our corn, our hay, probably gonna have to start spraying this coming week for some of them. Baiting them. (I say, “Is that the only relief from them?”) “That’s about all you can do until you get their cycle broke. (I say, “They can wipe out an entire crop can’t they?” “They’ll take hay down to where it looks like this stubble. They’ll eat it to the ground.”

That’s not particularly encouraging but farmers like Clint have always got one form of challenge or another. They meet them and beat them and that’s why they truly are American heroes