Alva Review-Courier -

WACO, Texas (AP) — Some Central Texas farmers are starting this fall with a war against an intense pest outbreak.

The Waco Tribune-Herald reports over the weekend, the nonprofit World Hunger Relief Inc. farm in Elm Mott lost more than 2,500 lettuce plants at the hands, or mouths, of fall army worms. The caterpillars, less than 2 inches in size, crept into the greenhouse and gnawed down seedlings, while others ravaged eggplant leaves in the rows outside. The damage estimate was about $5,000.

"This, for me, is the worst that I've ever seen it," said Gala Gerber, garden manager of the farm, which...