Underground Threat Imperils North Carolina’s Multi-Million Dollar Blueberry Industry
By Marge Farrington | Published 2026-06-17T14:25:08.924Z
Business
North Carolina -- June 17, 2026: A decades-old agricultural mystery unfolding beneath the soil of North Carolina’s premier blueberry farms has finally been solved. Researchers at North Carolina State University have officially identified a native "mystery bug" that has been quietly decimating crops: Prionus imbricornis, commonly known as the tile-horned Prionus beetle.
North Carolina -- June 17, 2026: A decades-old agricultural mystery unfolding beneath the soil of North Carolina’s premier blueberry farms has finally been solved. Researchers at North Carolina State University have officially identified a native "mystery bug" that has been quietly decimating crops: Prionus imbricornis, commonly known as the tile-horned Prionus beetle.While the insect is a well-known native resident of North American hardwood forests, this newly published study in the Journal of