Update 26 April 2024: https://nos.nl/artikel/2518221-tweede-kamer-wil-toch-bestrijdingsmiddel-voor-door-fruitvlieg-geplaagde-kersen (So maybe these Dutch cherry growers will get to help pollute the world a little bit more after all as maybe these insecticides are allowed in Germany after all? The panic over not being able to use them seems exaggerated if I look at what that Wageningen University experiment found. These cherry growers need to stick to a best practice approach. They also failed to do that when they were granted an exemption for these pesticides and ignored the conditions for their use, which is why the Dutch state pulled the exemption.)
This morning at 04:45 BST, the Dutch version of the BBC – it’s called NOS – published an article in which Dutch cherry growers lament about no longer being allowed to use the insecticides Tracer and Exirel to combat Drosophila suzukii.
Drosophila suzukii aka spotted wing drosophila is a fruit fly that originated in Asia and of which the females lay eggs in ripening fruits, such as berries, grapes, plums and cherries. It was first spotted in the Netherlands in 2012.
It likely arrived in Europe in imported fruit, according to this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6681294/ (It also talks about the use of cladding and netting to combat this fruit fly. I’ll come back to that.)
Dutch cherry growers had an exemption that allowed them to use Exirel and Tracer, but because they weren’t keeping their side of the agreement, the Dutch government canceled the exemption. It wants to improve water quality instead of worsen it and it does not want to cause more harm to bees. The cherry growers weren’t cooperating.
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