Oregon Public Broadcasting

The state Department of Agriculture has started to warn growers about a new menace.

The Vinegar Fly has appeared in Oregon, and could pose a major threat.

Tuesday, the state will host a conference with the produce industry to discuss a response. Ethan Lindsey reports.

Oregon’s growers aren’t unfamiliar with invasive species.

Africanized honey bees, Japanese beetles, European woodwasps.

They’re just a few of the pests on the Oregon Invasive Species Council’s 100 most wanted list.

Now add the Vinegar Fly to the roll.

Helmuth Rogg is an entomologist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Helmuth Rogg: “We shouldn’t be scared of the Vinegar Fly, but we should be concerned since it’s a new pest, and this particular species is one of the very few species that attacks fresh, ripe fruit.”

Rogg says the fly could multiply rapidly in the Willamette Valley because it’s so much like Japan, where it originated.

The Vinegar Fly loves a rainy temperate climate, feeds on ripe fruit, and loves to romp around in blackberry bushes.