Oregon Public Broadcasting

The state of Oregon could soon step up its fight against a massive grasshopper infestation in Eastern Oregon.  

A legislative panel gave preliminary approval Thursday to a request to help farmers fight the pests.  Salem correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

It’s a plague of almost Biblical proportions.  This year’s invasion is one of the worst ever seen in Eastern Oregon.

Tom Kerns raises cattle and grows wheat on his farm near Haines.

Tom Kerns:  “If you walk through the ground, everything was just moving.  You’d make sure you kept your mouth shut because there was just hundreds of them flying.  And they’re going every which direction.”

Kerns says he tried attacking the critters with insecticides, but the effort was costly and had mixed results.  

Farm advocacy groups asked the state to pitch in some money to help get rid of the grasshoppers.  

Lawmakers are moving quickly on a request for $119,000 to subsidize insecticide treatments and for an entomologist who would coordinate eradication efforts.

Farmers say they’re worried that this year’s grasshoppers have laid millions of eggs, setting up what could be an even worse infestation next year.