Blueberry and cranberry crop production in New Jersey accounted for a combined $112.1 million in 2023, representing the eighth and third largest producer of these crops within the United States.

As New Jersey springs become warmer and winters milder, it is likely that insect pests may become more active and cause damage to these crops.

The CCRC has teamed with the Rutgers Integrated Pest Management Program, including Professor Cesar Rodriguez-Saona, to develop models of pest activity in blueberry fields and cranberry bogs for seasonal alerts of these pests for growers and information on how their activity may increase with climate change. Our team has developed activity models for Sparganothis fruitworm and the invasive spotted-wing drosophila for use in cranberry and blueberry, respectively. These models are being used by Dr. Rodriguez-Saona to help advise growers during the growing season.

Our team is next developing models for other insect pests such as blunt-nosed leafhopper and plum curculio to improve New Jersey agricultural resiliency at the operational scale of a growing season and for longer-term climate-related impacts from pests.