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Rare strain of whitefly poses severe threat to Florida's $500 million tomato crop

 
Researchers say that a new species of whitefly, called biotype Q, spreads diseases and is resistant to the insecticides that farmers have used to managed the more common biotype B. 
[University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences]
Researchers say that a new species of whitefly, called biotype Q, spreads diseases and is resistant to the insecticides that farmers have used to managed the more common biotype B. [University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences]
Published Aug. 26, 2016

A white-winged pest less than a millimeter long threatens to devastate Florida's $500 million tomato crop — more than half of which comes from Hillsborough and Manatee counties.

Concern is so high for the already struggling industry, said Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee, that it "could be a tipping point for the Florida tomato business. It's like having a hurricane forecast and you don't know if it's going to hit you or it's going to turn. It's not something you can simply move and dodge the bullet."

Tomatoes are Florida's biggest vegetable crop, and the state leads the rest of the country in production of fresh tomatoes.

The pest is a rare strain of whitefly, an already dreaded creature for farmers since it can pick up a disease from one plant and then infect others nearby.

"It's like the mosquitoes and Zika. No one gets sick until they start spreading the virus," said Lance Osborne , a researcher at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The fly at issue is called the Q-biotype, which researchers say is resistant to the insecticides that farmers have used to kill the common whiteflies for decades.

"Whiteflies are the kiss of death," said Frank Diehl, owner of the 1,600-acre Frank Diehl tomato farm based in Wimauma. While he has yet to encounter the Q-biotype, he said the common strain has "been devastating to us."

And more than tomatoes are at risk. The whitefly has more than 300 species of host plants to choose from in the Florida landscape, though research has shown that they tend to favor ornamental plants and vegetables.

"With our climate, robust international trade and more than 100 million visitors a year, Florida is a hotbed for agricultural pests and diseases," said Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services spokesman Aaron Keller. "The Q-biotype whitefly poses a serious risk to Florida's $120 billion agriculture industry and the more than 2 million jobs it supports."

Keller clarified that "it's mostly the vegetable and nursery products that are the ones most at risk."

The new whitefly concern comes at a difficult time for Florida agriculture. Citrus greening disease has cut the state's orange juice production by two-thirds, and farmers, including those who grow tomatoes, face rising production costs and competition from Canada and Mexico.

In the late 1980s, B-biotype whiteflies, which are more easily managed with insecticides, decimated poinsettias and tomatoes in Florida before spreading to Texas, Arizona and California, according to Cindy McKenzie, a researcher in the U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce.

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Since the Q-biotype was identified in South Florida greenhouses a decade ago, nurseries have prevented them from getting out — until now. Researchers always suspected it was only a matter of time before the fly made its way out into people's yards and farms.

"The bottom line is we've never found it outside of the greenhouse before," Osborne said. "Now we're finding it in the landscape."

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has identified the Q-biotype in 14 areas around the state — including in Hillsborough and Palm Beach counties.

"We're finding them in retail outlets, any place you can buy fertilizer and your plants," Osborne said.

So far, the Florida Department of Agriculture has quarantined about five nurseries that have been infested with the Q-biotype whitefly. In the last week, however, three have been reopened, Keller said.

The Florida Department of Agriculture has issued warnings to consumers, greenhouses and farmers throughout the state to watch out for whiteflies and to send in samples for testing.

The real problems come if the Q-biotype whitefly finds its way onto tomato or vegetable farms like Diehl's.

"The problem with the whitefly is you can kill them in the morning and by the afternoon it's worse," Diehl said. If the Q-biotype is as resistant as researchers claim, it would put his entire business at risk.

A few years ago, Diehl developed and patented an agriculture wash called Synbiont, which he said increases the potency of insecticides and fungicides. He said it has killed whiteflies on contact for his crops and believes it will work on the Q-biotype.

The agriculture industry is asking for the public to watch out for the Q-biotype and help prevent it from spreading.

"The whole (agriculture) system is on heightened alert for these whiteflies," said Brown of the Florida Tomato Committee. "When it does happen you can't put the genie back in the bottle."

This month, farmers have started to plant for October's harvest and will continue growing through March. For the next two months, as the plants are in their early growth stages, they are most vulnerable to whiteflies and others pests, Diehl said. If a whitefly infestation hits in that period, he said a best case scenario would be to save 50 percent of his harvest.

"It's about this time that you have the most trouble sleeping," he said. "It's just a tough business."

Contact Alli Knothe at aknothe@tampabay.com. Follow @KnotheA.