Farmers issue warning as strange creatures wreak havoc in US region: 'It was like this science fiction movie'

In Louisiana, farmers take advantage of flooded fields to raise two harvests together: rice and crawfish. Normally, this provides two income streams for landowners and two food sources for the country. However, invasive pests are now interfering with both, the Associated Press reported.

What's happening?

The first pest wreaking havoc in the state is the apple snail, a baseball-sized creature that feeds on young rice plants and has also caused major problems in Florida. According to the AP, experts estimate that about 78 square miles of Louisiana are infested with this species.

"It was like this science fiction movie," said Christian Richard, a Louisiana rice farmer who described the small whirlpool made by each snail coming out of the wet ground, per the AP. "They would start on those tender rice plants, and they destroyed a 100-acre field."

While there are pesticides that can kill these snails, many also kill crawfish and cannot be used on the same fields. Options are further limited because humans eat the crawfish and rice from these fields. Farmers have to resort to methods like starting with dry fields and using more expensive pesticides, which means "lower production, decreased revenue from that, and increased cost with the extra labor," Richard said.

Not only do these snails harm the rice harvest, but they also interfere with harvesting crawfish. Farmers have to separate the snails and crawfish by hand.

A second pest affecting the same fields is driving another nail into the coffin: The rice delphacid is a tiny insect that bores into rice stems and has caused serious damage in Texas. If the initial injury wasn't enough, it also infects the plants with a disease that worsens the problem.

"The rice delphacid this past year was probably one of the most significant entomological events to occur in U.S. rice since the '50s when it first appeared," said Tyler Musgrove, a rice extension specialist at the Louisiana State University AgCenter, per the AP.

Why are these invasive species important?

The more damage these species cause to rice and crawfish harvests, the more expensive these items become for everyday Americans. The AP reported that some rice harvests are down as much as 50%.

What's being done about invasive species?

Researchers are hard at work looking for ways to address these pests. However, as temperatures rise and Louisiana becomes more hospitable to unwanted species, farmers may have to move elsewhere to grow their preferred crops.

"From an agricultural standpoint, that's generally what happens when you get one of these intractable pests," said Hannah Burrack, chair of the entomology department at Michigan State University, per the AP. "People are no longer able to produce the thing that they want to produce in the place that they're producing it."

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