One of the newer exotic pests in California, spotted wing drosophila, caught growers and researchers off guard last year, according to a special report by Dow AgroSciences that was published today in American/Western Fruit Grower magazine.

The Asian native pest was first detected in California in 2008 along the coast. By then, it had already established itself to an extent that CDFA deemed it impossible to eradicate. SWP has increasingly been found inland, especially in the sweet cherry districts around Stockton and Hollister, the article said.

“That’s when the wheels came off the wagon and a lot of people got hurt very badly,” the story...