Late-season berries are the bread and butter for many New York farmers. But an invasive species is taking a bite out of their crop and bottom line.
“It just has this ripple effect,” said Dale-Ila Riggs of The Berry Patch in Stephentown who is also the president of the New York State Berry Growers Association. “The strawberry-raspberry-blueberry crop combined was worth $15 million and about $5 million was lost to spotted wing drosophila.”
Riggs was talking about 2012, the first year the fly was noted throughout the state.
“When it first came out I was devastated,” Riggs said.
She said she lost 40 percent of her blueberry crop and 20 percent of her raspberries.
Media: Invasive Insect on Small Fruit
About Peter J Jentsch
Peter J. Jentsch serves the mid-Hudson Valley pome fruit, grape and vegetable growers as the Senior Extension Associate in the Department of Entomology for Cornell University’s Hudson Valley Laboratory located in Highland, NY. He provides regional farmers with information on insect related research conducted on the laboratory’s 20-acre research farm for use in commercial and organic fruit and vegetable production.
Peter is a graduate of the University of Nebraska with a Masters degree in Entomology. He is presently focusing on invasive insect species, monitoring in the urban environment and commercial agricultural production systems throughout the state
