Boll Weevil Eradication Program
The Boll Weevil Eradication Program is a program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which has sought to eradicate the boll weevil in the cotton-growing areas of the United States. It's one of the world's most successful implementations of integrated pest management. The program has enabled cotton farmers to reduce their use of pesticides by between 40-100%, and increase their yields by at least 10%, since its inception in the 1970s. By the autumn of 2009, eradication was finished in all US cotton regions with the exception of less than one million acres still under treatment in Texas.
Status of the program in 2006
The boll weevil is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae. The boll weevil
feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working in the American South. During the late 20th century, it became a serious pest in South America as well. Since 1978, the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in the U.S. allowed full-scale cultivation to resume in many regions.
Boll weevil
1) Dorsal view of adult; 2) side view of adult; 3) egg; 4) side view of larva; 5) ventral view of pupa; 6) adult, with wings spread
Cotton boll with weevil larvae.
"Beat the boll weevil..." (U.S. Food Administration, Educational div., Advertising section, 1918–1919)