Whitefly Effect on Prices Seen as Minimal

Representatives from the fruit and vegetable industry said Wednesday there would be no major price increases this winter despite the ravaging of crops in California’s lush Imperial Valley by the poinsettia whitefly.

“For the short term we do not expect to see an adverse impact on pricing or availability of winter fruits and vegetables, but longer term the question’s up in the air,” George Dunlop, president of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Assn. told a press conference.

There had been concern that the damage wrought by the tiny pesticide-resistant insects could boost prices this winter.

The group said while there would be diminished supply in December and January, any price changes would be consistent with the normal fluctuations of the season.

The voracious fly has wiped out 95% of the cantaloupe crop in California’s Imperial Valley, a major fruit and vegetable-producing area.

Traveling in swarms that from a distance look like clouds of dust, the pest has also laid to waste hundreds of square miles of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage and lettuce, costing an estimated $200 million.

But industry officials said California’s farmers have been working together to compensate for losses, over-planting crops farther north in the San Joaquin Valley to make up for those damaged by the fly in the Imperial Valley.

The new strain of the whitefly, dubbed poinsettia because it was discovered on poinsettias in Florida last year before moving west, is different from other strains because it attacks all plants indiscriminately.

Dunlop called it the “killer bee version of the whitefly. It’s an alien strain.”