Locust plague prompts fears for crops

Rural lobby group AgForce says it is almost impossible to control a plague of grasshoppers that has hit Longreach in Queensland's central west.

Residents are reporting the biggest plague in three decades, but authorities say they will only control the locusts if they move east and begin to threaten farming country.

Longreach AgForce president and grazier, Duncan Emmott, says some graziers are positive, despite the situation.

"When you get good seasons you get pests that come with it and we'll take the pests and the good seasons over the droughts," he said.

"I don't know whether they are spur-throated but there are locusts all through western New South Wales and they're probably all through western Queensland.

"There's no way they could spray those areas. They'd prefer not to have them but it depends on how long they last and how many more waves we get."

Mr Emmott says locusts do eat pasture, but he is more worried for farmers on the central highlands if the locusts travel.

"Yes I think I'd be very worried because obviously they can do a lot of quick damage to crops," he said.

"They are probably more palatable and you certainly hear about the damage they do at times.

"I've already heard of people in NSW that have had stuff totally decimated and they'd had to replant because of them.

"No-one wants them and they do do damage but there is nothing we can do about them."