(Wines&Vines) - Potential damage from spotted lanternfly could total $18 billion, wine grapes at risk

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture announced July 18 that the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) had been found in Warren County, N.J. That county is separated from Pennsylvania by the Delaware River and is only about 50 miles from Berks County, Pa., where the spotted lanternfly (SLF) was first identified in 2014.

 The invasive insect has the potential to damage $18 billion worth of agricultural products in Pennsylvania alone. A meeting in July about how to confront the potential problem drew 85 people from eight states, and a vineyard manager for a Pennsylvania winery fears the SLF could devastate wine grape growing in the state.

 When the SLF was first identified in 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) hoped that a quarantine placed on seven municipalities in the county would control the spread of the invasive species. Two years ago, the quarantine was expanded to include municipalities in an additional four counties in Pennsylvania. By November 2017, the quarantine zone was applied at the county level and covered a total of 13 counties east of the Susquehanna River and south of the Pocono Mountains.