Welcome
Welcome to the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Program web site. This site has been developed to provide information to cotton producers and the general public about the process and progress of boll weevil eradication across the state.
2009 Program Year End Summary
At the recent 2010 Beltwide Cotton
Conference in New Orleans, Program Director Larry Smith delivered an
update on boll weevil eradication program activities through 2009.
According to Smith, the
Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (TBWEF) completed a
successful year.
In 2009, boll weevil eradication activities were carried out in all
Texas and eastern New Mexico cotton fields, on a total of 5,410,346
certified cotton acres. For the year, every zone reported either no
weevil captures, or reductions in boll weevil captures compared to
2008. Four New Mexico and 11 West Texas zones are approaching
program completion. In addition, strong progress was made in the
Northern Blacklands (NBL) and Upper Coastal Bend (UCB) zones in 2009.
In 2010, program operations in South Texas/Winter Garden, UCB, NBL,
and Southern Blacklands will concentrate on identification, trapping
and treatment of all cotton (including volunteer cotton in other
crops and non-crop areas) and working with the Texas Department of
Agriculture (TDA) to achieve early, thorough stalk destruction.
As
boll
weevils are being
reduced to below economic damage levels in all areas of the state,
Texas
cotton producers have set all-time production records in three of
the last six years.
It is clear
that boll weevil eradication is critical to the sustainability of
cotton production in Texas and that the
elimination of the
boll weevil is a key factor that has enabled growers to produce
these
record crops.
Equally essential, however, is the partnership that exists between
cotton growers and the boll weevil eradication program.