Nevada Agriculture

They grow as big as a church mouse and can snap a wooden matchstick in two with their jaws. Ugly and ferocious if disturbed, they eat everything in their path--including each other--and travel in giant bands across the land. Mormon crickets--scourge of an earlier generation of Western farmers--have invaded northeastern Nevada.

Rick Lattin's farm was bone dry and he was desperate. Years of drought in the Lahontan Valley had wilted his once-sturdy cornstalks into khaki-colored husks, prompting the third-generation farmer to seriously consider another career.

State agricultural officials are bracing for another invasion of Mormon crickets in northern Nevada, thanks in large part to a fifth straight year of drought. Bob Gronowski, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, said the number of crickets marching across the region could make the 1990 invasion look insignificant. He said the only way to keep the population in check is to have cold, wet weather after the crickets hatch in March, but it is not likely that the weather will cooperate.

Plunk in the middle of a state that is reeling from an assault by outsiders, the sublime strength and spirit of Nevada is preserved and nurtured here, a proud little town of several hundred residents, straddling the loneliest highway in America. The nearest McDonald's and K mart are 120 miles away in Elko, and it's a 77-mile drive to the nearest lawyer, doctor or pharmacy, in Ely.

Poor planning and hard economic times forced a central Nevada cattle rancher out of business, not disruptions from Navy training jets screaming overhead, a federal judge ruled Thursday in dismissing an $8.7-million lawsuit. The suit was filed by Don and Barbara Nonella, who moved to Elko, Nev., in 1988 after abandoning their failed 7C Ranch below Fallon Naval Air Station training grounds 60 miles east of Reno. Assistant U.S. Atty.

Plunk in the middle of a state that is reeling from an assault by outsiders, the sublime strength and spirit of Nevada is preserved and nurtured here, a proud little town of several hundred residents, straddling the loneliest highway in America. The nearest McDonald's and K mart are 120 miles away in Elko, and it's a 77-mile drive to the nearest lawyer, doctor or pharmacy, in Ely.

Rick Lattin's farm was bone dry and he was desperate. Years of drought in the Lahontan Valley had wilted his once-sturdy cornstalks into khaki-colored husks, prompting the third-generation farmer to seriously consider another career.

Nevada agricultural officials on Thursday declared victory in their war against the Mormon cricket but warned that unless the drought eases, next year's fight against the voracious pest could be the toughest in the state's history. Robert Gronowski, who coordinated Nevada's anti-cricket campaign, said the pesky bugs--notorious for their size and hearty appetites--are "mostly mating and laying eggs now" and have lost interest in eating. But the insects have infested 1.

Mexico has threatened a ban on all U.S. poultry products on concerns that the current outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease, a deadly avian virus that is harmless to humans, could spread to commercial poultry operations outside California. A ban would shut off the third-largest export market for U.S. poultry producers. Mexico bought 123,000 tons, or $63 million, of leg quarters in the first 10 months of last year, according to the National Chicken Council.

To a fast-buck carnival man like Raymond I. (Pappy) Smith, it was like the ring of a silver dollar when Nevada legalized gambling back in the 1930s. He didn't know much about casino games, but he figured he couldn't go wrong by sending his sons to Reno to set up shop with a couple of nickel slot machines and a penny roulette game. It was 50 years ago this month that Harold Smith Sr. and Raymond I. Smith opened Harolds Club, Nevada's oldest casino.

State agricultural officials are bracing for another invasion of Mormon crickets in northern Nevada, thanks in large part to a fifth straight year of drought. Bob Gronowski, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, said the number of crickets marching across the region could make the 1990 invasion look insignificant. He said the only way to keep the population in check is to have cold, wet weather after the crickets hatch in March, but it is not likely that the weather will cooperate.

Nevada agricultural officials on Thursday declared victory in their war against the Mormon cricket but warned that unless the drought eases, next year's fight against the voracious pest could be the toughest in the state's history. Robert Gronowski, who coordinated Nevada's anti-cricket campaign, said the pesky bugs--notorious for their size and hearty appetites--are "mostly mating and laying eggs now" and have lost interest in eating. But the insects have infested 1.

They grow as big as a church mouse and can snap a wooden matchstick in two with their jaws. Ugly and ferocious if disturbed, they eat everything in their path--including each other--and travel in giant bands across the land. Mormon crickets--scourge of an earlier generation of Western farmers--have invaded northeastern Nevada.

Poor planning and hard economic times forced a central Nevada cattle rancher out of business, not disruptions from Navy training jets screaming overhead, a federal judge ruled Thursday in dismissing an $8.7-million lawsuit. The suit was filed by Don and Barbara Nonella, who moved to Elko, Nev., in 1988 after abandoning their failed 7C Ranch below Fallon Naval Air Station training grounds 60 miles east of Reno. Assistant U.S. Atty.