‘They don’t belong in our environment’: US vineyards battle spotted lanternflies as invasive insects spread

Around grape harvest time about three years ago, an employee at Zephaniah Farm Vineyard in Leesburg, Virginia, noticed bugs, about 1in long with gray and black wings and a bright red underwing, atop some trees. While the insects were pretty, they were there for the grapevines and not welcome guests at the vineyard, which sits atop a farm that the Zephaniah family has run since 1949. They were spotted lanternflies, invasive insects that probably played a role in the fact that the vineyard produced about half as many grapes in 2025 as the previous year, according to Tremain Hatch, a co-owner and viticulturist. “If we spend as much time farming the grapes but we have half the crop and we’re able to make half the wine, that is not a good thing,” Hatch said. Zephaniah Farm is not the only US business that has seen lanternflies suck away their revenue. Their US population has increased in recent years and affected the winemaking and forestry sectors. In New York, for example, researchers estimated that the bugs could cost wineries millions of dollars. Scientists are uncertain what the lanternfly population numbers could look like this summer and fall, but they expect them to continue to spread across the country. As such, researchers are looking for ways to protect vegetation – and the wine industry – from the bugs. One solution? Smash them. …