Recently the Boll Weevil Eradication Program made headlines in Tennessee as part of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research’s annual Pork Report’s biggest waste of tax-payer money. The non-profit Tennessee Center for Policy Research argues the Boll Weevil Eradication Program has done its job and should now be eliminated while the House Agriculture Committee argues the program still plays a viable part in cotton production.

The boll weevil is a type of beetle lives and thrives in cotton fields from early spring to midsummer and feeds on immature cotton bolls. Generally female weevils lay on average 200 eggs during a 10 to 12 day period that hatch in three to five days. The average lifecycle of a boll weevil is approximately three weeks.

The boll weevil has long been a pest to cotton farmers in Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and other Southern U.S. states. The boll weevil feeds on cotton buds and flowers and migrated from Central America to the U.S. in the late 19th century. In the 1920s the boll weevil devastated the cotton industry. Magazine titles like Successful Farmers, Progressive Farmer and Farm Equipment Catalog offer more information on how farmers have dealt with boll weevils and other pests throughout history.

In 1978 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) instituted the Boll Weevil Eradication Program to control the pest. A study conducted by Mississippi State University estimates the boll weevil has cost U.S. cotton producers approximately $13 billion. The program was extended into the Southeast and Southwest states during the 1980s. Since then it has been operating successfully in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. For more information on U.S. agriculture trends, check out state business magazine titles like Texas Monthly and Business Alabama.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service along with the state departments of agriculture use regulatory support to disseminate program information. Many different methods are used to eliminate the boll weevil during a three to five year period. Among these methods are pheromone traps, reduction of food supply and malathion treatments. Farmers plow cotton stalks into the ground to keep boll weevils from using them as winter shelter. In addition to human efforts to eliminate the boll weevil, in recent years nature has produced a predator to boll weevils: the imported red fire ant. Red fire ants attack boll weevil larvae and pupae.