2021 Berry Production Workshop

September 15, 2021, Kennedy
October 5, STEPHENTOWN
4:00pm-6:00pm

2021 season review of SWD management techniques
Free; register here.

Note: Due to severe weather, the Stephentown workshop was postponed until October 5. Sign up using the link above, then join us at The Berry Patch, 15589 State Rt. 22, Stephentown.

Join researchers, growers, and expert speakers for a two-hour review of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) management techniques. We’ll cover the basics of SWD monitoring of adult and larvae populations and also discuss implementing a pesticide program.

This free program will focus on what has been learned about designing an exclusion netting support system that provides long-term control of SWD and maximum utility for berry farmers.

Exclusion netting is being used on field blueberries where it controls SWD while also excluding birds and moderating impacts of hail and heavy rain. Raspberries and strawberries also benefit from exclusion netting on the sides of high tunnels.

1.5 DEC credits available in categories 1A, 10, and 22.

AGENDA - STEPHENTOWN

4:00 pm | Welcome, Introductions & NYS DEC credit sign-up – Laura McDermott, CCE ENYCHP

4:05 pm | Brief Overview of SWD – Laura McDermott, CCE ENYCHP . Insect monitoring, fruit infestation monitoring, insecticide management and cultural management techniques will be discussed.

4:20 pm | Overview of Exclusion Netting – Dale Ila Riggs, The Berry Patch, and Ted Storozum, TekKnit, Quebec. Brief review of work undertaken and effectiveness of netting in open field and high tunnel systems. Discussion of adaptations made to netting material and the need for structural design.

4:50 pm | Structural Considerations When Installing Exclusion Netting – Chris Callahan, University of Vermont, and Paul Lucas, Gintec, Ontario, CA. The past two seasons has provided lots of new information about designing the support structure for Exclusion Netting. Gintec owner Paul Lucas has played a critical advisory role in this portion of the project and has decades of experience with protected agriculture systems. Cost information for the SWD exclusion netting and structure will be included. 

5:20 pm | Exclusion Netting on Fall Raspberries – Dale Ila Riggs, The Berry Patch. Research on using field netting for fall raspberries and incorporating it into a high tunnel system.

5:30 pm | Views from Other Growers – TBD. Growers that have adopted exclusion netting will share their successes and struggles with the netting. 

5:45 pm | Hands-On Removal of Netting – Attendees will watch and assist with removal of netting panels to better understand the requirements and ease of using netting. Netting storage and winter care will be discussed.

6:00 pm | Adjourn

AGENDA - KENNEDY

4:00 pm | Welcome and Introductions & NYS DEC credit sign-up – Anya Osatuke, CCE Harvest NY.

4:05 pm | Brief Overview of SWD – Greg Loeb, Cornell University. Insect monitoring, fruit infestation monitoring, insecticide management and cultural management techniques will be discussed

4:20 pm | Overview of Exclusion Netting – Greg Loeb and Stephen Hesler, Cornell University. Brief review of work undertaken and effectiveness of netting in open field and high tunnel systems. Discussion of adaptations made to netting material and the need for structural design.

4:50 pm | Structural Considerations when Installing Exclusion Netting – Stephen Hesler, Cornell University, and John Abers, Abers Acres. The past two seasons has provided lots of new information about designing the support structure for Exclusion Netting, but every farm is unique and Abers Acres owner will discuss how they installed the netting. Cost information about the SWD exclusion netting and structure will be included. 

5:20 pm  |  Exclusion Netting on Fall Raspberries – Greg Loeb, Cornell University. Research on using field netting for fall raspberries and incorporating it into a high tunnel system.

5:30 pm | Views from Other Growers – TBD. Growers that have adopted exclusion netting will share their successes and struggles with the netting. 

5:45 pm | Hands-On Removal of Netting – Attendees will watch and assist with removal of netting panels to better understand the requirements and ease of using netting. Netting storage and winter care will be discussed.

6:00 pm | Adjourn

The Berry Patch Pioneers Innovative Use of Exclusion Netting to Combat SWD

The Berry Patch Pioneers Innovative Use of Exclusion Netting

to Combat SWD

The Berry Patch, in tiny, rural Stephentown, has pioneered an innovative solution to spotted wing drosophila (SWD) infestation. Since it arrived in the United States in 2008, SWD has made it virtually impossible to grow commercially acceptable, pesticide-free raspberries and blueberries, but the Berry Patch’s experiments with exclusion netting seek to end crop losses.

Spotted wing drosophila is native to Southeast Asia. It first appeared in California in 2008, and spread to Florida the following year. By 2010, SWD had migrated to the Carolinas, Louisiana, Utah, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Northeastern fruit growers first went to battle with the insect in 2012, when an average of 80% of raspberry and 30% of blueberry crops—and approximately $4.3 million in revenue in NY state alone—were lost due to infestation of the fruit during its early ripening stages. Dale-Ila Riggs, co-owner of the Berry Patch and NYSBGA board chair, says, “This pest is a game-changer for berry growers nationwide. There are no natural enemies for it in the U.S.”

In 2012, Riggs lost about 40% of her lucrative blueberry crop to SWD. After observing some early research on the use of exclusion netting at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, she obtained a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Farmer grant to test the use of the netting on her half-acre blueberry planting. Riggs adapted her existing bird-netting support system into a support system for the exclusion netting, with extra protections and anchoring to withstand thunderstorms, hail, and up to 60 mph winds. She then compared the fruits from the covered plot to the fruits grown in a control plot protected only with bird netting.

Berry Patch co-owner Dale-Ila Riggs adapted her existing bird netting structure to exclusion netting, with extra security features to help it withstand the volatile Northeastern climate.

The results were startling. Riggs documented an infestation rate of 0.7% and 0.3% in 2014 and 2015, and last year had a 0% infestation rate—a rate virtually unheard-of in agricultural systems.  Other farms around the country are taking notice, and have started to duplicate the Berry Patch’s successful growing system.

Riggs will set up her blueberry exclusion netting again in early July, prior to SWD’s summer activity. She also plans to experiment with the same exclusion netting for her high-tunnel raspberry planting for the first time this year. “With SWD, no one has been able to grow pesticide-free berries that are free from infestation,” Riggs notes. “The netting makes it possible. This is a highly effective method that brings new hope for growers.”