Agriculture: Bugged

The best of Spain's eating-olive crop is bugged. The pestiferous Dacus fly, or Dacus oleae—a kissin' cousin of the U.S. fruit fly—is nibbling its way through millions of gallons of plump Queen olives and slimmer, tarter Manzanillas. Seville and surrounding territory in western Andalusia produce 98% of the world's green eating olives, and the U.S. buys 75% of them. U.S. importers say that wholesale prices for Manzanillas have already risen 15%—from $34 to $39 per fanega (16 gal.). Queens are 50% more expensive—at $20 to $30 per fanega. But because of back...