This webinar took place on March 4, 2020.
Click here for a handout of the slides.
About the Webinar
Spotted-wing drosophila (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 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 are 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. Our multi-regional team was funded by USDA-NIFA through OREI Award No. 2018-51300-28434 to develop, evaluate and implement systems-based organic management programs for SWD. This webinar will provide a comprehensive update on organic management of spotted-wing drosophila. It will summarize findings of the research conducted by our project team on organically approved strategies including behavioral, cultural, biological, and chemical tactics to manage SWD.
This webinar will be presented by the project team including:
- Dr. Ash Sial (University of Georgia): Ash Sial is blueberry entomologist at UGA and is Project Director for the SWD Organic Management grant funded by USDA-NIFA through OREI.
- Dr. Mary Rogers (University of Minnesota): Mary is an Assistant Professor at the UMN specializing in sustainable and organic horticulture food production systems.
- Dr. Kelly Hamby (University of Maryland): Dr. Kelly Hamby, Extension Specialist and Assistant Professor at UMD with a focus on sustainable Integrated Pest Management strategies for various insect pests.
- Dr. Vaughn Walton (Oregon State University): Vaughn is a fruit entomologist at OSU with a focus on providing environmentally sustainable and minimal impact pest management strategies for agriculturalists in Oregon.
- Dr. Kent Daane (University of California Berkeley): Kent is an Extension Specialist at UC Berkeley with a focus classical and augmentative biological control. He is known worldwide for his work on biological control of SWD.
- Dr. Oscar Liburd (University of Florida): Oscar is a fruit entomologist at UF with a focus on providing environmentally sustainable pest management strategies for fruit farmers in Florida.
- Dr. Craig Roubos, University of Georgia
- Dr. Elena Rhodes, University of Florida
