Farmers are already starting to report insect damage

Insect damage especially to newly emerged seedlings is always a concern for producers.

Farmers across the prairies will want to be monitoring for cutworm damage and flea beetles. 

The Prairie Pest Management Network says growers should also keep an eye out for diamondback moths and grasshoppers.

According to the report, grasshopper eggs have already started to hatch across Alberta and western Saskatchewan with reports of grasshopper nymphs in both provinces.

That puts the grasshopper hatch about 10 days earlier than normal. 

Areas with the highest densities of adult grasshoppers last summer are overlapping with a large region extending from south of the Yellowhead Highway corridor to the Canada-US border. 

Meantime, trap captures of diamondback moths have been reported in Saskatchewan, with the highest reports coming out of Alberta around the Grande Prairie area - where both eggs and first instar larvae may already be present.