COLLEGE STATION – The whitefly in Texas may be sending up a surrender flag to tomato processors in the state thanks to a Texas AgriLife Research scientist developing a new variety that resists the virus spread by this pesky insect.
A 10-year battle against the insect all but wiped out the tomato industry in Texas, but the new tomato already is encouraging small processors to stay in business, according to Dr. Kevin Crosby, AgriLife Research vegetable breeder.
“We first saw this new virus around 2002 or so,” Crosby said. “There were strains of this virus complex always in the Rio Grande Valley, but they weren’t nearly as easily spread by the whitefly as this new strain that originated in the Middle East and then went from Florida to Mexico and then came to Texas.
“It spreads like wildfire. I’ve seen a 50-acre field just plowed under because they couldn’t get a single tomato out of them. There are so many whiteflies down there in that subtropical region, you really can never completely eliminate whiteflies. You can’t do it.”
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