Webinar to Highlight Organic Management of Spotted Wing Drosophila

Posted by David Eddy|February 20, 2018

Members of a multi-state research team will present a webinar Feb. 27 on the organic management of spotted wing drosophila (SWD).

SWD has emerged as a devastating pest of small and stone fruits worldwide. Losses due to SWD can be as high as 100% and have been valued at more than $718 million annually in the U.S. The zero tolerance for SWD in fresh fruit has led conventional growers to make preventative insecticide applications when fruit is ripe.

Organic management of SWD is even more challenging due to the low number of effective OMRI-approved materials and limited understanding of the biology of SWD to translate into non-chemical management tactics.

In 2015, a multi-regional project was funded by USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) to develop, evaluate, and implement systems-based organic management programs for SWD.

This webinar, hosted by eOrganic, will provide a comprehensive update on the organic management of SWD. It will cover findings of the research conducted during the first and second year of this project on organically approved strategies including behavioral, cultural, and chemical strategies to manage SWD.