North Carolina is facing a new threat to its honeybees. The invasive yellow-legged hornet has now been confirmed in the state, raising concerns for beekeepers and the crops that depend on pollination. I spoke with Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler about the state’s response.
“Our plant industry people have confirmed the presence of the yellow-legged hornet for the first time in Matthew and now some other areas too. So we’re stepping up our surveillance and doing what we can do to control these populations. In fact, I was just meeting with Dean Fox of NC State, and I said, ‘You know, what we really need is somebody to develop a drone that we can use to get high up in the trees where these nests are and be able to destroy those nests without, you know, spreading them everywhere.’ So we’re working on it, Dan, and of course, spotted lanternfly is becoming more prevalent, so we have … got to keep up the work on invasive plants and invasive insects if we’re going to be successful in that.”
As I understand it, I think the species has kind of slowly crept toward North Carolina. So it’s not necessarily out of nowhere, but still not a day that North Carolina’s been looking forward to by any means.
“No, we have known that they were south of here and as far out as the West Coast. So creeping up the East Coast, it was no surprise that we did find them. We’ve been working on eradication programs that we could use for years. But the spotted line of fire, we have thrown everything at them that we absolutely know how to do and we’re losing the battle.”
State agricultural officials are asking residents and beekeepers to report suspected yellow-legged hornet sightings. Information on identifying the insect and reporting possible sightings is available at ncagr.gov.