Cricket war is entering Round 2 near Fillmore

Round two in the fight against Mormon crickets commences today in the Fillmore area.

If the weather cooperates, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be spraying the pesky crickets from daylight until about 11 p.m.

A team last week sprayed nearly 15,000 acres near Ibapah with Dimilin, a pesticide used to thwart the crickets efforts.

The state has a new tool in their arsenal to fight the little pests this year — crop dusters equipped with GPS technology.

Mormon crickets and grasshoppers infested 3.2 million acres of western Utah rangeland, farms and desert last year. And this year will get only worse, said Larry Lewis, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Lewis estimates that 4 million acres of land will be infested this year.