Hundreds Billions of locusts are currently devastating several countries in east Africa and south Asia causing devastating damage to crops both in the field and in the camp. Schools the size of cities are sweeping farmland, and numbers are expected to increase 500 times until June if not marked.
Insect plagues have been documented throughout human history and cause famine and widespread hunger. Around the clock, Tempo has compiled 20 of the most devastating insect plagues in U.S. history, including not just cases of starved swarms, but the less visible, equally insidious insects that have hunted forests, fruit trees, and even cattle – many of which are classified as an invasive species.
We focused on native and invasive insects with rapid population growth in the United States. All of these insects have caused property, agriculture, or native flora and fauna destruction. In some cases, the population growth has slowed and the insects no longer cause serious destruction. In other cases, the damage persists.
Human actions can be traced back to many of these plagues, be it the importation of invasive species in fruit transports, the carelessness in the transport of firewood or the triggering of the climate crisis. The climate crisis will also permanently change the cultivation of these 22 plants.
Click here to see the most devastating insect plagues in US history
