Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Vinegar flies hit Swiss cherry crop

cherry harvest
Vinegar flies lay their eggs in fruit just before the harvest and the larvae eat the cherries from the inside. © Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Despite trees full of fruit, this year’s cherry harvest will be much lower than expected because of the cherry vinegar fly, reports Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

“We assume that we will not reach the estimated 2,500 tonnes of eating cherries,” says Beatrice Rüttimann, spokesperson for the Swiss Fruit Association. “And also with distilling cherries – where we estimated 3,000 tonnes before the harvest – we will not reach that figure.” The association does not yet have exact figures for the whole of Switzerland, as harvesting is still going on in eastern Switzerland.

The cherry vinegar fly, a native of Asia which arrived in Switzerland about 15 years ago, comes when the cherries are ripe, bites into the skin and lays eggs in the fruit. The larvae then begin to eat the fruit from the inside, making it inedible. These flies reproduce very quickly, and so can rapidly infect many trees.

SRF quotes Aurelia Jud, who trains farmers in Lucerne, as saying the best way to protect crops is with close-meshed nets, but it is hard to do this without leaving gaps on high-trunk trees, which can grow up to 20 metres high.

The Swiss Fruit Association is hoping that a natural opponent of the vinegar fly will emerge, such as the parasitic wasp.


Coming soon Lost Cells A podcast uncovering the human stories behind private stem cell banking's promises and failures. Get notified

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

DRC: UN fact-finding mission launched in Geneva

More

DRC: UN fact-finding mission launched in Geneva

This content was published on The UN Human Rights Council approved the launch of this mechanism in Geneva on Friday, to be followed by an International Commission of Inquiry.

Read more: DRC: UN fact-finding mission launched in Geneva
Three HEKS employees killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo

More

Three employees of Swiss aid organisation killed in DRC

This content was published on Three employees of the Swiss Protestant Reformed Church (Heks) have been killed in an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They were on a humanitarian mission in the crisis region.

Read more: Three employees of Swiss aid organisation killed in DRC

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR