See also: Grasshoppers

LOCUSTS

Dried locusts are about 75% protein and 20% fat.

Locusts can do extreme damage to crops when they swarm in great numbers. One swarm seen over the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to be 2,000 square miles in size. There are several edible species, and they are important food sources in some areas, especially Africa. They can be grilled, roasted or boiled, and also ground to a paste.

In the 1870s southwestern Minnesota was the victim of a 4 year locust plague. Locusts had been eating crops, trees, tobacco, fence posts, leather, dead animals, sheep's wool - basically everything in sight.

A state day of prayer was declared on April 26, 1877 to pray for an end to this 4 year plague of Rocky Mountain locusts. Two days later a snowstorm moved through and the locusts were never seen again. No one knows what caused the locust plague, nor why the Rocky Mountain locust became extinct after the plague.

On May 25, 1877 Minnesota's $1.00 per bushel bounty on locust (grasshopper) eggs was allowed to expire.

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