A destructive pest insect, detected in Australia for the first time, is destroying millions of dollars' worth of berry crops and could increase food prices.
South-east Queensland growers are on the front line of what could become a widespread battle facing fruit, vegetable, flower, nursery and cotton industries, as well as home gardeners.
It is not known how the invasive flower thrips Frankliniella intonsa evaded national biosecurity measures meant to keep the pest out of the country.
Overseas, it is a challenging pest for crops including green beans, zucchinis, cucumbers, melons, capsicums, asparagus, alfalfa, cotton and cut flowers.
Measuring 1.2 to 1.8 millimetres long, the tiny flower thrips have attacked strawberry, raspberry and blackberry crops in the Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast regions.
Biosecurity Queensland officially confirmed Australia's first detection of the insect in April, in damaged raspberries at an Elimbah farm.
Strawberry growers in Queensland's south-east say insecticides have not been able to control the thrips, which are listed as an emergency plant pest, and numbers have exploded.
Growers are discarding tonnes of damaged fruit at the peak of their season.
'Perfect storm of insects'
Intonsa thrips feed and lay eggs inside fruit blossoms and on young developing fruit.
Their rasping mouthparts rupture and suck fluids from plant cells, causing scarring that can reduce crop yield, productivity and marketability.
Although impacted fruit is perfectly safe to eat, it is vulnerable to splitting and rain damage.
Queensland Strawberry Growers president Adrian Schultz said Frankliniella intonsa combined with the impact of varroa mite on honey bees had created a "perfect storm of insects".
"It's [intonsa is] absolutely, it's completely and utterly through all the strawberry-growing areas in south-east Queensland.
"We're looking at millions of dollars … on average most farms [in south-east Queensland] would be losing at least 50 per cent of their crop."
Farmers under pressure
The new pest adds to growers' financial burdens of bird and rain damage, increased wage costs, plus higher packaging and transport prices caused by the Iran war.
Mr Schultz believes Frankliniella intonsa may have been spreading under the radar for several years and said the industry was working hard to better understand and manage it.
He said strawberry crop losses would likely affect consumers.
"I wouldn't be surprised in a couple of weeks if prices are significantly higher than what they are now."
'Devastating, scary'
In the Glass House Mountains, Brendon Hoyle sends only his best, sweet, ripe, red, certified-organic and conventionally grown strawberries to market.
But pickers are currently composting up to 70 per cent of his fruit.
"It's been terrible, it's been devastating … it's scary to see the loss," Mr Hoyle said.
"Efficiencies are everything for farming, and we rely on high-yielding crops, efficient picking and packing to try to keep production costs down.
"This throws it all into turmoil because the numbers don't work anymore, especially when strawberries are relatively cheap in the shops."
Natural predators
Paul Jones breeds beneficial bugs and helps strawberry growers control harmful insects using natural predators.
He said before Frankliniella intonsa, other species of thrips living in strawberry crops were "useful plant pollinators" and "tended not to be a problem".
"But the impact of this season has been very devastating to growers," Mr Jones said.
The Bugs for Bugs director said natural enemies of the flower thrips included a predatory mite and pirate bug.
But Mr Jones said by the time they started releasing beneficial insects this year, invading flower thrip populations were too high for the predators to "knock numbers down".
"We believe the solution to this problem is beneficial insects, but it's all about timing."
In the meantime, he said customers could help by buying berries.
Pest widespread
Frankliniella intonsa was first officially recorded in New Zealand in 2002, and has also been found in Europe, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Canada and the United States.
It thrives in temperatures between 18 and 28 degrees Celsius.
Mr Jones said the insect could survive a flight from New Zealand.
"Look, it's a tiny insect. New Zealand's not far away from here- a three- or four-hour flight. It could have simply got on someone's clothes, you know, undetected through quarantine," he said.
"It could be as simple as that, we don't know."
Nursery concerns
Greenlife Industry Australia CEO Sean Cole said Frankliniella intonsa was a global pest for nursery and horticultural plants and rotating three or four different pesticides was important to reduce the risk of chemical resistance.
Mr Cole called for increased vigilance at Australian borders.
"Although we do have surveillance of incoming passenger and cargo into the country, it's at a much lower rate than we'd probably like, meaning a lot of stuff does go through to the keeper."
Impact assessment
In a statement, Biosecurity Queensland said the department had "undertaken surveillance, diagnostics and technical assessments" for Frankliniella intonsa.
"Government and industry stakeholders will continue to work together to better understand the distribution, impacts and future management arrangements for this pest," the statement read.
