No safe haven for boll weevils in Texas

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Texas weevil eradication director, Charles Allen, says "it's time to get the job done" on the boll weevil. -- Staff photo by Taylor

Feb. 17, 2005 - "There is no safe haven for a weevil ... and no excuses. It's time to get the job done, and that's what we plan to do," said Charles Allen, program director with the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation out of Abilene, speaking at the Upper Gulf Coast Cotton Conference in Wharton.

Allen began his presentation just after receiving a call with news that the final piece of land in Texas ... the Northern Blacklands ... had voted with 85 percent of the producers choosing to get into the program. With this final zone, one of 17 in the Texas area of the nation's cotton belt, the weevil has no where to hide.

The Southern Blacklands, the Upper Coastal Bend and South Texas/Wintergarden boll weevil eradication zones are in the South Central Texas area.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the boll weevil arrived in the United States from Mexico in 1892. Since then, the pest has caused an estimated $14 billion in yield losses and control costs to the U.S. cotton industry.

U.S. farmers still produce a lot of cotton; and in South Central Texas, an abundance of rain the past few years has benefitted cotton production. In 2004, USDA noted the national average was a whopping 846 pounds of cotton per acre, with the 2004 world cotton crop reaching more than 115 million bales. The National Cotton Council predicts around 13.73 million acres of cotton will be planted in 2005.

Because of the high production rates all over the world, even with a better quality of cotton grown in the United States, prices have continued to be low ... without much increase in sight, according to the USDA. Allen explained that in the Texas and eastern New Mexico cotton industry, there are 30,000 cotton producers, with the number increasing to 35,000, if you include the Valley. While there were record yields in Texas in 2004, the quality was down a bit, due to the weather.

Allen attributed the successful boll weevil eradication program in Texas for the production increase. With 12 zones onboard with the program in 2003-2004, there was a 7 percent increase in production, or an additional 387,479 acres.

Weather was a major factor in 2004. Rains delayed getting into the fields, as well as spraying. The lack of spraying helped the migration of the weevils from areas not yet in the eradication program. And, there was a lack of employees in the program, according to Allen.

While the capture of the boll weevil is part of the eradication program, the numbers captured were high. In the South Texas/Wintergarden, 308,943 were captured; 1,287,408 in the Southern Blacklands; and 2,074,069 in the Upper Coastal Bend. Allen explained that part of the numbers came from migration, and some came from gin trash used to feed to dairy animals.

In the three zones in South Central Texas, less than 20 acres were originally treated, but once the program started, the percentage of reduction reached over 92 percent in all zones.

With all acreage in the cotton belt now in the eradication program, Allen noted the "future looks very positive." All the "pieces are in place to farm cotton without pests."

Hopefully, with good fall treatments, a colder winter and ... maybe ... a little drier spring, cotton producers will have a successful 2005. But, with much of South Central Texas under a cover of dense clouds and rain for the past month, it's not a sure thing!