The dream of generations of cotton growers is about to be realized - the elimination of the boll weevil. It's already happened in Georgia. Even though a few boll weevils linger, it's no longer an economic factor. In 1983, Georgians harvested 115,000 acres of cotton. By 1997, due mainly to the success of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), 1.4 million acres of cotton were harvested. Before the BWEP (1971-1986), Georgia growers averaged 482 pounds of lint yield per acre. After the program (1991-1997), the lint yield averaged 710 pounds per acre.
  "It wasn't the only reason for the increase in production, but it was a major factor in a rebirth of cotton in Georgia," said Phillip Roberts, extension entomologist for cotton at the University of Georgia. "It made cotton easier to grow."
  Some sources say that, in the early 1890s, boll weevils reared their ugly heads in the U.S. near Brownsville, Texas and haven't left - yet. By the 1920s, the pesky insects had infected all cotton producing areas in the southeast. By the early 1950s, the restless weevils had moved west. Boll weevils, AKA anthonomus grandis, are a destructive force to cotton crops and have pushed many cotton growers out of business. As a result, some areas of the Cotton Belt are no longer producing cotton.
  In 1978, after a referendum vote by growers in North Carolina and Virginia, a trial program was initiated. Proclaimed an overwhelming success, cotton insect control costs were reduced from 50% to 90%.
  "There were hard times, and patience was required to endure a couple of years of higher than expected losses from aphids and armyworms but once the program was completed, the numbers dropped back quickly to lower levels than pre-eradication," Roberts said.
  Insect control costs and crop damage dropped an average of 60% in Georgia, he said.
  "The eradication program is more intensive and is expected to cause higher numbers of other pests due to the massive destruction of 'beneficials,' but the benefits are well worth it," Roberts said.
  Mississippi is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In the fall of 1997, the BWEP began in two of the state's four regions, according to Farrell Boyd, state manager of BWEP in Mississippi.
  "The program began in the two eastern regions of the state," Boyd said. "This covers an area approximately from the central to the eastern portions - all of the hill areas. The South Delta, which falls in Region 2, started in 1998. The North Delta, Region 1, which covers Washington and LeFlore counties to the north, started the program in 1999."
  The program will continue for at least four more years, Boyd said.
  "The entire Delta region is now in the program," he said. "This past year, there were slightly over 531,000 acres of cotton in Region 1. And there were about 189,000 acres in Region 2."'
  The program is funded through an annual assessment fee to cotton growers of $22 per acre for a period that lasts five to six years, Boyd said.
  Because of the early season intensive spraying, some farmers complain about intolerably high levels of other pests, he said.
"That happened in 1995, but in the same year, my region was not in the program and we were eaten up by armyworms, too," Boyd said. "The program always gets blamed, even though there's no proof."
  After the active phase of the program, it's difficult to say how much money cotton growers can expect to save, Boyd said.
"In Alabama, there are some growers who haven't sprayed cotton in three years, but that's an extreme example," he said. "Savings of 50% to 90% in insect control are easily achieved."
  In Georgia, post program control costs and damage were reduced to less than $60 per acre from a high of $178 per acre, Roberts said.
  "Since sprays are no longer needed for boll weevil control, producers are able to utilize a truly integrated approach to pest management," Roberts said. "Georgia cotton producers have moved from an insecticide-based system to a biologically-controlled system for insect pest management. Natural enemies are now the first line of defense."
  After eradication has been achieved, crops are continually monitored and maintained, Boyd said.
  "Until the boll weevil is completely run out of the U.S., there is a risk of re-infestation," he said. "Maintenance assessments vary from state to state, depending on how much each state puts into the program, and run anywhere from $5 to $12 per acre."
  Once Mississippi is declared weevil free by the Bureau of Plant Industry, regulations on moving equipment and migrant workers into and through the state will be enforced, Boyd said.
  "There's a push for a federal quarantine as well as a state quarantine," he said. "The state would enforce the federal quarantine, so there is a lot of discussion about how that would be handled. If there is not some type of quarantine, there will continue to be little infestations everywhere. Every time equipment or workers in Georgia or Alabama are moved, you can almost always trace a new weevil infestation to that movement."
  In the two eastern regions of the state, the program has worked as administrators hoped and the same results should translate to the Delta, Boyd said.
  "We have some areas that we didn't spray at all last year," he said. "Because we are surrounded by eradication in Louisiana, Arkansas, and starting this year, Tennessee, the program's success should show up even better in the Delta."