USDA Releases Plan To Help Slow the Spread of Spotted Lanternfly

Posted by Growing Produce Staff|August 1, 2023

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Spotted Lanternfly Strategic Planning Working Group has released the Spotted Lanternfly five-year strategy for fiscal years 2024-2028.

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Up close with the spotted lanternfly. The invasive pest continues to spread around parts of the U.S., posing a threat to fruit growers and their crops. Photo courtesy of Delaware Department of Agriculture
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There are four stages in the growth of the spotted lanternfly. Photo by Ruth Tam
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A gypsy moth egg mass (right) next to an egg mass of the spotted lanternfly (left) on a tree trunk. Egg cases of the spotted lanternfly can be found on tree bark and other nearby smooth surfaces.
Photo by Greg Hoover, Penn State University
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Spotted lanternfly adults and fourth-instar nymphs, with the bright red coloring, feed on a grapevine. Photo by Eric Clifton/Cornell University
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Adult Spotted Lanternflies on a grape trunk.
Photo by Heather Leach
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This map illustrates areas in the U.S. that have been identified as possible spotted lanternfly habitat.
Graphic courtesy of USDA-ARS

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APHIS brought together the working group in August 2022, including the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the National Plant Board. The working group developed a unified approach to reduce spotted lanternfly’s spread and impacts through the effective use of available state and federal resources.

“Over the next five years, federal and state partners will work to limit the spotted lanternfly’s advancement as we further scientific research that will help us develop better pest management tools and options,” says USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt.

The five-year strategy prioritizes the following goals:

• Effectively limit the advancement of SLF and efficiently respond to its introduction within federal and state authority and resource availability.

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• Support continued scientific research toward practical management and risk mitigation.

• Establish a consistent national and state-level outreach message and educational campaign for the public and industries at risk for spreading SLF.

The Asian native has spread to 13 additional states since it was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014. Spotted lanternflies prefer to feed on the invasive tree of heaven, but they also feed on a wide range of crops and plants, including grapes, apples, hops, walnuts, and hardwood trees. As resources available are limited, developing a strategy in coordination with the states to address this invasive pest is critical.

To reduce the spread, APHIS and states will create a framework to prevent human-assisted movement, promote public reporting and early detection, and continuously leverage the latest research and management tools available. The new strategy builds the capacity to combat SLF in areas at high risk of introduction and stresses that SLF management plans be based on the latest risk-assessment modeling data, which helps predict where SLF populations may emerge.

Federal and state partners will also unite their research resources and share knowledge about SLF to limit its movement and distribution. While leveraging best practices in the field, state and federal partners will prioritize more research on climate and host-plant suitability, biocontrol agents, as well as other effective management tools.

In addition to representatives from APHIS, the Spotted Lanternfly Strategic Planning Working Group also included NASDA and NPB State representatives from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Virginia.