“Dale-Ila Riggs knew a monumental change was in the works the moment the Troy Farmers Market — one of the region’s oldest and largest — closed down in March 2020. For the past several years, Riggs, the owner of The Berry Patch in Stephentown in Rensselaer County, had made the bulk of her annual sales there.”

“The Berry Patch, owned by Dale-Ila Riggs and Don Miles, has experienced the devastation SWD can cause in late ripening berries like blueberries and raspberries.”

“Dale Ila Riggs knew the pests were coming for her berries. It was summer 2012, and Riggs watched as the invasive spotted wing Drosophila, a type of fruit fly, descended on The Berry Patch, her 230-acre farm in eastern New York near the Massachusetts border.”

“Dale Ila Riggs says “I feel like I’m beating SWD,” while walking through her netted berry patch.

Riggs, co-owner of the Berry Patch in Stephentown, NY, with her husband Don Miles, used exclusion netting on her blueberries for four growing seasons to prevent spotted wing drosophila (SWD) from ravishing her crop, and she’s seen remarkable results.”

“Dale-Ila Riggs, president of the New York State Berry Growers Association, who has earned a recent Excellence in IPM award, has made it her mission to tackle head-on what could be the berry growers’ worst pest ever.”

“As a former Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) educator and professional IPM scout who monitored dozens of vegetable and berry farms for pests as well as the beneficial insects that help keep pests in line — not to mention her experience on the 240-acre berry and vegetable farm she and her husband run together — Riggs has decades of practical knowledge under her belt. But with a formidable pest as destructive as SWD, dealing with it takes relentless advocacy and careful research.”

“Riggs harvests all of her fruit crops for fresh, direct market sale from the farmstead, at farmers markets, and to dozens of regional restaurants. “We need a system that will control SWD yet be practical for working around the berries and less costly,” she adds.”

“Riggs earned her master’s degree in horticulture and adult education from Oregon State University. A fifth-generation Vermonter, she and her husband, Don Miles, started their now 240-acre farm from scratch in 1997. . . . Despite the prototype nature of the project, and learning curves associated with anchoring netting that survived through 60 miles per hour winds and hail and thunderstorms, this trial clearly shows that 80 gram insect netting is a viable alternative for managing SWD,” Riggs said. ”

“A summary presentation at the NYS Ag Expo on January 15, 2021 (Virtual). This covers the overall motivations, info on the netting, basic approach for support structure layout and installation, summary of the efficacy of the most recent “cable garden” system in use by Dale Ila Riggs at The Berry Patch in Stephentown, NY.”

“This video covers the basics of how to layout a large rectangle around either an existing planting or a bare ground project. It covers using equal diagonals and 3/4/5 triangles to square or true the layout by squaring the corners to 90 degrees. This is important for spotted wing drosophila (SWD) exclusion netting projects because a square structure will be easier to put netting over. This may also be helpful for a variety of basic construction projects such as high tunnels, greenhouses, sheds, and barns.”

“The Berry Patch in Stephentown is using a fine mesh to help prevent an invasive insect pest and doing research to potentially help growers all across the world.”

“Dale Ila Riggs, owner of The Berry Patch and former NYS Berry Growers president, has been experimenting with exclusion netting for over half a decade. In this video she discusses the considerations for berry growers to utilize this tool to their full advantage.”

“In this Northeast SARE Farmer Grant Snapshot, filmed in January 2018, farmer Dale Ila Riggs of The Berry Patch of Stone Wall Hill Farm, Stephentown, NY, describes the results of her Northeast SARE Farmer Grant project, ‘The use of insect netting on existing bird netting support systems to exclude spotted-wing Drosophila from a mature small-scale commercial highbush blueberry planting.’” ”

“Dale-Ila Riggs of The Berry Patch in Stephentown, New York, describes the effectiveness of exclusion netting to combat spotted wing drosophila (SWD) in blueberries.”

“A presentation the agriculture committee meeting in Albany.”

“Dale-Ila Riggs, The Berry Patch, presents on the impacts of the spotted wing drosophila on fruit crops (especially raspberries) in the northeastern US.”