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Pink Bollworm: Program Details

The Pink Bollworm Program is probably the most successful and longest running yet least known area wide Integrated Pest Control (IPC) programs in the world.

This unique IPC program has been in continual operation since 1967. The Cooperative Pink Bollworm Program is funded almost entirely by the cotton growers of California through an assessment on each bale of cotton ginned in the state. USDA contributes about 8 percent of the total funding. For over 36 years, program activities have successfully prevented incipient infestations of pink bollworm (PBW) from becoming established in the cotton growing areas of the San Joaquin Valley. The Pink Bollworm Program uses an integrated pest control approach, relying on trapping, sterile release, crop destruction, and occasional pheromone treatments to keep infestations below economic impact levels.

The program does not use pesticides, but rather uses sterile PBW moths to overwhelm these infestations. Sterile moths are produced at the CDFA/USDA Pink Bollworm Rearing Facility in Phoenix, Arizona. To determine where sterile moths need to be released, program personnel put out pheromone-baited insect traps and inspect them weekly from April through October. Sterile PBW moths are sent to California daily and released by aircraft over target areas determined by trapping results. Pink bollworm threatens the nearly 700,000 acres of cotton grown in the San Joaquin Valley, which is valued at nearly one billion dollars, annually.

If PBW became established in the San Joaquin Valley, millions of pounds of pesticides would be introduced into the environment, annually, just to control PBW. It is estimated that an additional seven pounds per acre of pesticides would have to be used every year to control PBW and related secondary pests in the San Joaquin Valley. Establishment of pink bollworm in the San Joaquin Valley could increase cotton growers' pest control costs by $90-100 per acre.

Besides using sterile PBW moths, the program occasionally uses pheromone to disrupt the moths mating activities. Pheromone is the substance secreted by the female pink bollworm moth to attract the male moth. The pheromone used to disrupt pink bollworm is a synthetic chemical with the same structure and activity as a natural pheromone.

An integral part of the program involves cultural controls through the enforcement of plowdown regulations. Local county agricultural commissioners carry out this important function as part of the cooperative program. These regulations provide a "host-free" period, by means of planting and crop destruction dates. Complete shredding of cotton stalks and the dislodging of cotton plant roots to prevent regrowth is a key link to successfully completing this integrated pest control program.

Cotton is one of the most important crops grown in California. It is estimated that cotton accounts for over 150,000 jobs in California, a combination of direct employment and employment related to value added goods and services of cotton's domestic and export trade. The value of California's cotton exports including lint, cottonseed and other products makes the cotton crop worth nearly one billion dollars annually. Leading the California's cotton production are Fresno, Kern, Kings, Merced, and Tulare counties.

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Contact Information

Program Supervisor: Jim Rudig
E-mail: jrudig@cdfa.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 654-0768