Cornell in the News: CBS2 Report on Spotted Wing Drosophila

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.