Swarms of grasshoppers have descended upon western parts of the United States amidst dangerously low rainfall in the region, The Guardian reports. Droughts that have plagued the West throughout the summer have created a prime environment for the bugs to wreak havoc on local crops. “They just destroy the land, destroy the crops,” said Richard Nicholson, a cattle farmer in Oregon. “They are just a bad, bad predator.” More than a dozen states are expected to face grasshopper damage as the U.S Department of Agriculture estimates the region affected has an agricultural value $9 billion. If left alone, the grasshopper population will eventually shrink but efforts are underway to prevent states from losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue as the bugs continue to munch on crops.
