Fruit fly threatens fruit crops

"Armed with $1.2 million in federal funding, Washington State University scientists are trying to beat back the advance of the spotted wing drosophila (SWD) into the Pacific Northwest.

Introduced into California in 2008, SWD is a red-eyed "vinegar fly" that attacks ripening and rotting fruit. The fly has spread rapidly northward along the Pacific Coast into Oregon and Washington and is considered a serious threat to Northwest fruit crops such as strawberry, cherry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, plum, pluot and nectarine, and may be a threat to wine grapes."

WSU
PCC Sound Consumer, July 2010