As you may have seen in the news recently, the light brown apple moth has not gone away and, in fact, is here in greater numbers than ever before. Since I am a caneberry (raspberries and blackberries) grower as well as president of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, I have had the opportunity to speak with the press on several occasions regarding recent finds of LBAM in caneberry fields.

In one instance, an organic blackberry field in our valley not only had large numbers of LBAM present, but actual damage to the crop was observed, up to 20 percent. This was the first instance of the invasive species causing economic damage to a food crop, and the media jumped on the news with enthusiasm. I received calls from several television and newspaper reporters who wanted to see the crop devastated by LBAM and in one case, a reporter from a Bay Area TV station left me a voice mail that he was “on my way and must film this blackberry field and can you show it to me?” Fortunately, the affected field was not mine, nor could I lead a herd of reporters to another grower’s field. Most of them seemed disappointed, but settled on interviewing me on one of my ranches where there is no sign of LBAM.

Because we are farming in a quarantined area as a result of LBAM, all agricultural products being shipped out must be inspected by U.S. Department of Agriculture personnel. Because of the large number of individual ranches growing berries in the valley, inspections at each cooler facility take place every 30 days. At this time, fruit from every ranch shipping through that cooler must be inspected. If a single LBAM of any life stage, typically the larva, is found, the ranch indicated is put on hold until a positive identification of the pest can be made.

Since there are several native species of leaf-rollers here as well as LBAM, which is also a leaf-roller, visual identification of the larval stage is often impossible. The USDA protocol requires that “suspect” finds be sent to an approved lab in Sacramento for DNA testing to determine if it is, indeed, LBAM. Because of the large number of “suspects” this year, the turn-around time for the lab has been quoted as two days to two weeks. Meanwhile, the ranch affected is unable to continue harvesting. Two weeks during the peak of what is often a six- to eight-week harvest can be up to half the crop, a lot more than the 20 percent damage reported by the media on the blackberry field.

Obviously, this is a serious pest that can have grave consequences to our industry. With no current eradication program in place here and increasing populations in the environment, growers are going to face challenges with this pest for some time. Our current defenses are monitoring the fields and pesticide applications on each ranch. We can do nothing about LBAM present on neighboring properties. And, to make life even more exciting, we have a new non-native pest to deal with. The cherry vinegar fly has caused damage to several crops in California, including raspberries beginning last fall. This summer is turning out to be one to remember.

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John E. Eiskamp is the president of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau and a local raspberry and blackberry grower. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of the Register-Pajaronian.



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