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When Spotted Lanternfly Visits the Tasting Room: How Wine Consumers Feel About SLF Biological Controls
Updated: 3 hours ago
For vineyard owners and winery staff, understanding how customers perceive Spotted Lanternfly management can help inform conversations in the tasting room and build support for sustainable pest management practices.
Viticulturists aren't the only ones noticing Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) infestations across the Eastern United States. The invasive insects plague vineyards and the forests surrounding them but frequently fly into tasting rooms to bug guests enjoying local wine.
During focus groups and interviews with wine grape growers, our socioeconomic research team heard anecdotes of tasting room guests complaining about SLF and asking questions about SLF to vineyard staff. Because adult SLF are large and not afraid to get up close and personal with consumers, we decided it was essential to conduct a survey with wine consumers to see what they knew about SLF and how various SLF control methods would influence their purchasing habits.
We surveyed wine drinkers in the states of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia, where SLF is currently most prominent. Among other questions, we wanted to know how wine consumers' existing attitudes influenced their support of various SLF controls.
Proposed Spotted Lanternfly Management Methods
Biological control uses natural enemies, organisms, or management approaches to reduce pest populations while minimizing the need for insecticides. The biological (non-chemical) control options included in the survey line up with our project objectives and have been proposed by the experts on our team who spend their days searching vineyards for SLF.
The Spotted Lanternfly biological control options included:
Removing SLF egg masses from vines in winter
Exclusion netting on vines to protect from SLF
Sticky bands or circle traps to trap SLF
Applying Beauveria bassiana, a naturally occurring fungus that infects and kills Spotted Lanternfly
Managing Tree of Heaven, an invasive tree species and preferred SLF host, by treating trees with a naturally occurring fungus
Remove potential fruit forming on vines to make vines more resilient with SLF feeds
What Influences Consumer Opinions?
Our socioeconomic team also wanted to understand why some consumers were more supportive of certain control methods than others. To do this, we explored how their personal values and concerns about agriculture, pesticide use, and SLF management influenced their opinions.
Wine drinkers responded to questions about:
Personal level of concern about pesticide use in vineyards that produce wine
Personal values related to food and agriculture
Active engagement in matters concerning SLF management and pesticides in vineyards
Survey Results
The survey found respondents highly supported most biological control methods for SLF, while their favorite control methods were
Scraping SLF egg masses from grape vines in the winter
Exclusion netting and protective barriers
The survey also revealed respondents were concerned and personally engaged with the matter of managing SLF and pesticide use in vineyards.
Researchers found that consumers who cared more about environmental issues, agriculture, and pesticide use were generally more supportive of biological control methods.
What Does It Mean?
These findings suggest wine consumers are paying attention to how vineyards manage invasive pests like Spotted Lanternfly. Consumers tended to favor control methods they could easily see and understand, particularly those that minimize pesticide use. For vineyard owners, winery staff, and tasting room employees, this creates an opportunity to discuss the sustainable practices being used to protect vineyards and surrounding ecosystems.
Recognized for Excellence in Science Communication
The importance of understanding consumer perspectives on Spotted Lanternfly management resonated with attendees at the 2026 Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) Conference. Dennis Baffour-Awuah presented this research during the conference poster session, where the project received the Outstanding Research Poster Award.
What Can You Do?
Whether you're a vineyard owner, winery employee, or wine enthusiast, learning about Spotted Lanternfly management can help in the fight to sustainably control this invasive pest threatening the wine industry.
Explore our additional resources to learn how researchers and growers are working together to reduce the impacts of SLF while protecting pollinators, native plants, and vineyard ecosystems.
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