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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Melina Walling

To fight berry-busting fruit flies, researchers focus on sterilizing the bugs

© 2017 Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune

Paul Nelson is used to doing battle with an invasive fruit fly called the spotted wing drosophila, a pest that one year ruined more than half the berries on the Minnesota farm he and his team run. In recent years, they've cut their losses closer to 5%, but it's been labor-intensive and expensive.

“It’s a pest that if you’re not willing to stick the time into it, it’s going to take over your farm,” said Nelson, the head grower at Untiedt's, a vegetable and fruit operation about an hour west of Minneapolis.

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