Boll Weevil Eradication: A Complete Success
The National Boll Weevil Eradication Program ranks close to Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin as one of the greatest advancements ever for the U.S. cotton industry. This federal-state-grower cost share program has helped thousands of U.S. cotton growers become more competitive and has been a plus for the environment.
The weevil has been eradicated in the Southeast states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama and the Far West states of Arizona and California. Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi, Oklahoma, and New Mexico are essentially free of Boll Weevils with very few weevils captured in 2008. Louisiana continues to clean up some weevils in the southern section of the state, but is soon to be boll weevil free. Texas has made crucial advances, but remains an active battle zone with warm, dry climates. Hurricanes and other environmental factors have raised awareness that the Boll Weevil is not yet eradicated from the U.S, and Federal Cost Share support is crucial to complete task.
History at a Glance
- A little more than a century ago, Anthonomus grandis (boll weevil) migrated from Mexico to the U.S. and spread rapidly throughout the Cotton Belt. Since then, it has cost America's cotton producers more than $15 billion - from yield losses and costs to control the insect pest.
- In 1958, the National Cotton Council officially recognized the economic havoc the boll weevil was wreaking on U.S. cotton production. With Congressional leadership and support, a USDA Boll Weevil Research Lab was created followed by eradication experiments, a trial eradication program and an areawide boll weevil control program on Texas' High Plains and Rolling Plains to prevent the weevil's migration.
- In the late 1970s, the National Boll Weevil Eradication Program was launched by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) along the Virginia-North Carolina border.
- Grower referendums were initiated to continue the advancement of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program. Growers funds with some state support accounted for over 70 percent of the program operation budget with less than 30 percent of funds provided by Federal cost share.
- The program later expanded into other Southeastern states followed by southwestern Arizona, southern California and a portion of northwest Mexico. Later programs were launched in Oklahoma, New Mexico, the Mid-South, and Texas.
- Today, just over one million cotton acres are active in the eradication program with eradication already achieved everywhere except pockets in MO, TN, AR, LA, and several regions of Texas. The goal is to eradicate the weevil as an economic pest from the U.S. during this decade.