BAKER CITY (AP) — YEEEE-HAW! Git along, little dogies. Very little dogies.

A growing grasshopper infestation in Baker County has placed a rice tag on their tiny little heads.

The infestation is the worst in 22 years and has drawn national attention including that of a Rhode Island marketer of edible insects featured in Discovery magazine and soon to appear on an upcoming television show as “The Bug Eating Man.”

“I heard about your situation out there through a piece on public broadcasting. I do run an edible insect business, and I have an interest in purchasing some grasshoppers,” said Dave Glacer, in a letter to the city of Haines, seeking contacts for buying grasshoppers.

“I also read about plans for funding a large-scale response with insecticides. Although that’s the usual response to this kind of situation, there is a better method out there: harvesting,” Glacer said.

“I operate the only edible insect company in the U.S. and I’m interested in your bugs, so long as they’re not bathed in poison,” Glacer wrote.

He says he has buyers waiting.

On his Web site, Sunrise Land Shrimp, Glacer touts grasshoppers as the world’s most commonly consumed insect, high in protein and other nutrients.

He wrote to Haines after hearing of attempts to get state funds for insecticide spaying.

Jan Kerns, a Baker County farmer and member of the Oregon Board of Agriculture, said the infestation has spread in Baker County during the summer and that the hoppers heavily damage high-value crops and rangeland.

Oregon’s Legislative Emergency Board approved $119,000 recently including $50,000 for a cost-share grasshopper spraying program to be implemented next summer, with the balance of the funds supporting a position for insect study in Northeastern Oregon with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Kerns said the funds will not repay growers in the Haines area who paid for aerial pesticide applications this past summer. An informational meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Baker County Extension office in Baker City.

Meanwhile, Glacier is in the market for unsprayed grasshoppers, but says it may be too late for a roundup this year.

He says he wants to start out with a 10-pound batch of Baker County ’s finest to compare their taste and other qualities to other species.

They’d have to be shipped dead, boiled and frozen, to kill the germs in their gut, Glacer said.

“I’d pay $7 a pound, plus shipping expenses.”