Food inflation is already a growing problem, if we suffer a plague of locusts like scientist are predicting the much vaunted leftist myth of American children going to bed hungry will become a stark, and destabilizing, reality:

The worst grasshopper outbreak in decades may envelop the western states this summer, scientists warn.

A dramatic rise in the number of grasshoppers was found during a survey of the western states conducted last year, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). And while that may seem bad enough on its own, it’s really the grasshoppers’ kids that are the threat.

If last summer’s adults were successful during mating season, then the worst grasshopper infestation in 30 years could strike ranches and agricultural land in the Great Plains states between late July and early August, said Roeland Elliston of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Fort Collins, Colo., who worked on the survey.

Ecologist David Branson who was not involved with the study but specializes in grasshopper management with the USDA in Sidney, Mont., agreed.

Pacific Northwest states such as Washington are also facing their worst grasshopper infestation in 30 years, said entomologist Richard Zach of Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., who was not involved in the survey.

The USDA survey included the number of adult grasshoppers from late spring to early fall in 2009. Based on those numbers, and favorable reproductive conditions such as the mild winter this year, researchers identified areas at risk of a grasshopper infestation, including states in the Great Plains and the Pacific Northwest.

Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska – states with typically high numbers of grasshoppers due to the large expanses of open range land there – are already seeing more than eight grasshoppers per square yard. That’s like walking through a field and having eight grasshoppers fly in your face with every step, Zach said.

The problem is also moving into the Pacific Northwest which is unused to dealing with these swarms. Though the article claims non-farming citizens should not be concerned only the most short sighted person could make the argument that damage to crop yields by swarms of grasshoppers won’t affect us all.

We’re heading into some lean years, I suggest getting prepared.

h/t Survival Blog