19 Apr 2022

Destructive pest moth spreading across NZ likely from Australia

From Checkpoint, 6:16 pm on 19 April 2022

A crop-killing moth could cost New Zealand farmers tens of millions of dollars, if populations survive.

Eggs were found in suburban Tauranga in surveillance traps last month - and larvae have now been found on two farms south of Hamilton.

The worm has devastated corn plants in Africa, and the United States, and more recently, Australia.

Sam Olley reports.