Mormon Cricket Invasion Part 2

More today on the Mormon Crickets issue in the West, and the invasion that is underway this year.

For those who are not familiar with the Mormon Cricket, first you should know, they are not a cricket at all, but instead a flightless katydid.

Paul Castrovillo is with the Idaho Department of Agriculture and recently told the Idaho Statesman about how the Mormon Cricket got it's name.

"back when the people were settling Utah, which were mostly Mormons, that's when they started noticing some of the first big infestations because the crickets would eat their crops."

The critters preferred habitat is the sagebrush of the high desert, and they can wreak havoc on farm crops, with swarms quickly eating through fields.

"and their preffered habitat is the high desert, but if something changes in the environment the numbers increase. The desert they usally live in can't support their numbers and that's when you start to see them leaving the desert and getting into the corn fields and the wheat fields. We are not very good at wiping out native pests like that. The number of crickets we see goes in cycles but they are always here."

Unfortunately for most farmers, crop insurance doesn't cover cricket devastation and there's not much they can do in the aftermath.

Farmers and Ranchers are using bait to try to control the infestations.