Effort under way to extend program

SIKESTON - Southeast Missouri cotton growers are being asked to continue a program which has dramatically reduced the boll weevil population in the Bootheel.

At the request of the Missouri Cotton Grower's Organization, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is conducting a referendum on whether to begin a post-eradication boll weevil program in 2008.

For the past seven years, the Missouri Boll Weevil Eradication Program has sought to get rid of the boll weevil, an insect that costs Missouri cotton producers more than $7 million a year in crop loss and pesticide use. The program is scheduled for completion this year.

Riley James, a boardmember of the Missouri Cotton Grower's Organization and operator of a cotton gin in New Madrid, has watched the impact of the eradication program in Southeast Missouri. Cotton production in the Bootheel region has steadily increased during the course of the program with an estimated record high production of 985,000 bales in 2006, James said.

A post-eradication program is designed to monitor for boll weevil and protect the investment in the eradication program.

"Passing this referendum would keep us from losing the money we have already put into this program," said James. "You would not want to lose money by not maintaining a piece of equipment you buy. And I believe it is what you would be doing if you lose the referendum."

Missouri Department of Agriculture officials, who collect and disburse the funds for the program and monitor the eradication efforts, also tout the success of the program.

Judy Grundler, a program administrator, called it very successful in increasing cotton production.

"Boll weevils feast on cotton," said Grundler. "The economic damage caused by the boll weevil in the southeast portion of the United States is second only to that sustained during the Civil War. That's a staggering bit of trivia."

Also staggering is the effect the program to eradicate the pesky insect has had on Missouri cotton production, which was ranked 13th nationally when the program began and now is fourth in yield average, Grundler said. "This has done tremendous things for yield average in the state," she emphasized.

Under the program, more than 390,000 acres of cotton in Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard counties have been treated with Malathion, a low-toxicity pesticide commonly used for mosquito control. Most of the affected areas were sprayed by aerial equipment, while more sensitive areas, including those near schools, homes and organic crops, were treated by ground equipment.

The effort is funded by cotton producers who agreed to assess themselves a fee to offset the cost of the spraying associated with the program. Under the referendum, producers paid $10 per acre of cotton the first year and have paid $12.50 per acre every year since.

If producers approve the referendum now before them, the cost assessed would be $5 per acre. Grundler called it an investment which pays off noting for every $1 invested, producers would see up to $5 increase in cotton production.

Ballots for the referendum were mailed to cotton producers during the first week of March. Ballots must post-marked by March 19 to be counted.

The ballot opening will begin at 9 a.m. April 3 at the University of Missouri Delta Center.