Australia

Australia
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Australia is within:
Region:	Oceania
Subregion:	Australia and New Zealand

In Australia, the management of locust and grasshopper pests involves multiple organizational levels, including federal and state agriculture departments, regional agricultural services, natural resource management agencies, and individual landholders. The specific structural arrangements vary across states, reflecting the historical context and corresponding political responses to the issue. The level of authority, autonomy, and engagement at each organizational level also differs significantly, which can either hinder or enhance the collective coordinated response to locust management.

Among the various locust species in Australia, the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker, 1870) is responsible for causing the most significant agricultural damage, particularly in the southeastern states of New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria. The recognition of this species as a national problem since the 1930s has led to periods of intensive scientific research and varying degrees of involvement from organizational and government entities. Outbreaks of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) and the spur-throated locust, Austracris guttulosa (Walker, 1870) generally have more limited peak population levels and a more localized impact. Other grasshopper species, such as the wingless grasshopper, Phaulacridium vittatum (Sjöstedt, 1920) the yellow-winged locust, Gastrimargus musicus (Fabricius, 1775) and the small plague grasshopper, Austroicetes cruciata (Saussure, 1888), periodically emerge as localized high-density pests.

The management of locusts and grasshoppers in Australia involves collaboration between various stakeholders to mitigate the agricultural impacts and protect the interests of landholders. Ongoing research and monitoring efforts play a crucial role in understanding locust behavior and developing effective management strategies in different regions.

Management and research

Organizational relationships

Australia has developed a robust network and advanced organizational capacity for monitoring and managing locusts and grasshoppers. The country has established strong connections between government agencies, universities, industry groups, and the private sector to effectively address these pests. In 1974, the Australian Plague Locust Commission (APLC) was established in response to significant infestations of various locust species that had occurred over many years.

The APLC operates through joint funding from the Australian Commonwealth, as well as the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland. Its primary responsibility is to monitor and manage populations of the three main locust pest species. However, Western Australia has chosen to manage its locusts separately, as locust outbreaks in that state are less frequent and primarily considered locally produced, although some migration between regions has been observed.

The high migratory capacity of locusts presents a challenge, as pests from one state can easily invade another. To address this, the APLC focuses on managing populations that pose a credible threat to agriculture in member states. Timely treatments are often implemented before locusts reach cropping areas, forming a crucial part of an early intervention strategy. Each of the four member states contributes funding based on the long-term economic impact potential within their jurisdiction, with the Commonwealth providing matching funds. The collaborative efforts and financial contributions from the member states enable the APLC to effectively coordinate locust management activities and protect agricultural interests across different regions of Australia.

Read more about the APLC here

Regional management strengths and challenges

Strengths

Member parties of the APLC consistently emphasize the importance of developing and maintaining locust-specific expertise as a key rationale for continued funding. As state and local agencies have experienced reductions in staff and the loss of specialized expertise, the APLC plays a crucial role in maintaining a stable capacity to address the ongoing changes that have become common in these agencies. To ensure a rapid response, the APLC is able to retain unspent funds from quieter years, which can be carried over into future fiscal years. This allows for sufficient financial resources to enable early intervention when environmental conditions are favorable for a locust upsurge.

The APLC's provision of training and expertise extends beyond locust activity within Australia. The organization continues to offer assistance and guidance in response to locust outbreaks in other regions, particularly in Africa and Asia. Additionally, the APLC provides non-technical operational support during pest outbreaks within Australia, undertaking various functional roles to aid in effective pest management.

Different organizations have varying levels of focus when it comes to responding to locust outbreaks. State agencies typically respond when multiple regions within a state are affected, coordinating the efforts of regional agencies. In some jurisdictions, pesticides are directly provided to landholders, enabling them to take individual measures for pest control. At all levels, agencies prioritize addressing the potential impacts on human health, the environment, and trade.

The thresholds for locust monitoring and control can differ along the continuum of the APLC, state agencies, regional agencies, and individual landholders. Some states allocate resources for monitoring and control only when an emergency is declared, while others, including the APLC, conduct regular monitoring through field surveys and engagement with landholders, regardless of population outbreaks. Individual landholders primarily focus on pest control to protect their crops and pastures. On the other hand, the APLC's control efforts aim at managing populations across multiple jurisdictions and benefiting the community as a whole. This approach may result in landholders having significant locust populations on their properties if the remaining population falls below the APLC's action threshold. However, the flexibility provided by landholder control can effectively manage localized population pockets and offer localized early intervention to prevent wider population buildup. This highlights the broader benefits of encouraging and facilitating individual landholders to control small populations.

Australia has a strong focus on prioritizing environmental and human health and safety in locust management. To support these objectives, the use of a biopesticide called Metarhizium acridum is employed, which allows treatments to be conducted near environmentally sensitive areas and on organic properties. However, further research is still needed to assess any potential adverse effects on non-target orthoptera, as observed in Argentina. See biopesticides.

Various organizations, such as the Rangeland Alliance and Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups, play vital roles in ensuring environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, and waterbody management. The NRM collaborates with landholders and works alongside Local Land Services divisions in New South Wales to distribute pesticides and implement control measures. These efforts are conducted while simultaneously focusing on protecting the environment and human health through educational outreach programs.

Challenges

Australia faces several challenges in locust management, including the need to effectively address the risks associated with control measures, prevent unnecessary pesticide applications, and mitigate environmental contamination, all of which can result in economic losses. In the current locust management framework, knowledge and expertise flow between universities, state agencies, and landholders. However, the flow of information is not always bidirectional, and there is a need for improvements in knowledge exchange. Collaborations with universities often have a transient nature, revolving around specific projects or grants, highlighting the importance of fostering transdisciplinary work between research institutions and other agencies. While information transfer from state agencies to NRM groups is generally strong, challenges may arise due to interagency politics or conflicting agendas. To ensure the sustainability of knowledge transfer, it is crucial to institutionalize effective mechanisms rather than relying solely on personal relationships.

Another significant challenge on the horizon is the potentially limited lifespan of pesticides used in locust control in Australia. As global agricultural chemical entities phase out older chemistries in favor of newly developed products, some of the pesticides that have been extensively studied and optimized by the APLC and other organizations may no longer be part of the Australian approach to managing locust populations. This implies that significant research and development efforts will be necessary to achieve equivalent outcomes with new control agents while minimizing off-target impacts and maximizing the efficiency of use.

Species gallery

• Highlighted species for Australia
• 
  Chirping mole cricket (Gryllotalpa pluvialis)
• 
  Common house cricket (Acheta domesticus)
• 
  Black-kneed gumleaf grasshopper (Goniaea carinata)
• 
  Eastern plague locust (Oedaleus australis)
• 
  Urnisa guttulosa
• 
  Giant grasshopper (Valanga irregularis)
• 
  Giant green slantface grasshopper (Acrida conica)
• 
  Mimetic gumleaf grasshopper (Goniaea opomaloides)
• 
  Australian common garden katydid (Caedicia simplex)
• 
  Black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus)
• 
  Southern Austroicetes grasshopper (Austroicetes frater)
• 
  Giant king cricket (Anostostoma australasiae)
• 
  Spur-throated locust (Austracris guttulosa)
• 
  Caledia captiva
• 
  Tropical sharptail grasshopper (Stenocatantops angustifrons)
• 
  Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera)

Organizations

Locusts and grasshoppers are typically managed through a national plant protection system led by a country’s plant protection organization, ministry of agriculture, or equivalent biosecurity authority. They are often supported by specialized pest control branches, natural resource agencies, and regional bodies when outbreaks cross borders. These agencies are usually the first point of contact for surveillance, reporting, permits, quarantine decisions, and control operations. If the country belongs to one of the FAO locust commissions, those bodies provide a regional framework for early warning, field surveillance, information sharing, and coordinated response, helping countries align monitoring, contingency planning, and control actions across borders.

Organization name	Acronym	Website	Type	Focus	Geographic purview
Australian Plague Locust Commission	APLC	View	Government	Management, Research, Governance	Australia
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development	DPI WA	View	Government	Management	Australia
Department of Primary Industries and Regions	PIRSA	View	Government	Management, Development, Information Hub	Australia
Global Locust Initiative	GLI	View	University	Research, Education, Information Hub	United States, Senegal, Australia, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mali
New South Wales Department of Primary Industries	NSW DPI	View	Government	Education, Management	Australia
New South Wales Government		View	Government	Management	Australia
New South Wales Local Land Services	NSW LLS	View	Government	Management	Australia
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries	QLD DPI	View	Government	Management	Australia
Queensland Department of Natural Resources	DNR	View	Government	Governance, Management, Monitoring, Education	Australia

Resources

Name	Species purview	Year published	Resource link	Descriptive keyword	Language	Geographic purview	Author
Agriculture Victoria Australian plague locust identification, biology and behaviour		2022	View	Species identification, Biology, Behavior, Ecology, Grasshopper development, Life cycle, Photos	English	Australia
Agriculture Victoria locust and grasshopper online reporting form				Report, Form, Survey	English	Australia
APLC locust and grasshopper identification guide				Management, Species identification	English	Australia	Australian Plague Locust Commission
Australian plague locust		2023	View	Grasshopper development, Life cycle, estimation of grasshopper densities, Chemical control, Aerial control operations, Economics, Species identification, Behavior, Outbreaks, Weather	English	Australia
Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera)		2006	View	Agriculture, Behavior, Biology, Grasshoppers, Insect behavior	English	Australia	Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
Australian Plague Locust Commission current locust situation				Locusts, Locust outbreaks, Outbreaks, Infestations, Distribution, Monitoring, Forecasting, Information hub, Weather, Rainfall	English	Australia	Australian Plague Locust Commission
Australian Plague Locust Commission locust bulletin				Locusts, Monitoring, Migration, Forecasting, Advisory note, Weather, Rainfall, Behavior, Survey, Distribution, Map, Series	English	Australia	Australian Plague Locust Commission
Australian plague locust landholder control strategies for NSW			View	Management	English	Australia	Government of New South Wales
Australian plague locust online learning module		2022	View	Species identification, Biology, Behavior, Management	English	Australia
Desert locust technical series				History, Management, Set	English, French, Arabic	Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania, Madagascar, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Senegal, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Niger, Mali	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
How to identify locusts		2021	View	Locusts, Species identification, Photos, estimation of grasshopper densities	English	Australia
Locusts in Queensland		2003	View	Taxonomy, History, Distribution, Biology, Ecology, Management	English	Australia
Locusts of Australia		2020	View	Management, Species identification	English	Australia	Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Managing locusts in Queensland		2022	View	Pesticides, Grasshoppers, Outbreaks, Infestations, Control, Nymphs, Life cycle, Biology, Grasshopper development, Weather, Early warning, Species identification, Identification	English	Australia
NSF Coupled Natural Human Systems Living with Locusts project summary		2021		Summary, Set, Program, Project report	English, Spanish, French	Senegal, Australia, China, United States	Australian Plague Locust Commission, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Inner Mongolia Agriculture University, New South Wales Local Land Services, Directorate of Plant Protection, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Sydney
Queensland locust sightings form		2025		Report, Outbreaks, Locust outbreaks, Monitoring, Survey	English	Australia	Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Short-term population forecasting of the Australian Plague Locust (Chortoicetes terminifera) based on machine-learning algorithms		2025	View	Forecasting, Modeling	English	Australia	Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, Australian Plague Locust Commission, Edward Deveson, Allan Spessa, John Baumgartner, James Camac
Spraying Locusts with Metarhizium			View	Metarhizium acridum, Biopesticide	English	Australia	New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
Standard operating procedure (SOP) locust management in Queensland		2022	View	Map, Infestations, Communication resource, Management, Monitoring, Early warning, Control, Nymphs, SOP	English	Australia	Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Highlighted media coverage

Name	Author	Language	Species purview	Substance	Resource link	Year published
Queensland farmers hit by locust plague – but spiders may be their unexpected salvation		English		News article		2025

Projects

Name	Acronym	Image	Status	Project leads	Related organization
NSF Coupled Natural Human Systems Living with Locusts CNH	CNH		Completed	Arianne Cease, Jon Harrison, Brian Robinson, Mira Word Ries, Balanding Manneh, Ruth Farington, Marion Le Gall, Jennifer Learned	Australian Plague Locust Commission, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Inner Mongolia Agriculture University, New South Wales Local Land Services, Directorate of Plant Protection, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Sydney, National Science Foundation
Short-term population forecasting of the Australian Plague Locust (Chortoicetes terminifera) based on machine-learning algorithms		File:File:Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis logo.png	Active		Australian Plague Locust Commission, New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries