Plant Health
Cotton Pests - Boll Weevil |
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The role of PPQ's Cotton Pest Programs is to eradicate the boll weevil from all cotton-producing areas of the U.S. and northern Mexico in cooperation with States, the cotton industry, and Mexico. The staff also provides technical assistance to facilitate the trade of U.S. cotton in international markets
News and Information
Maps
- Program Status 2008 (PDF; 196 Kb)
- Risk Map (PDF; 196 Kb)
Plans
- Post-Eradication Minimum Standards (PDF; 222 Kb)
Regulation
- Regulatory Update: Nearly all 17 cotton states have local regulations concerning the boll weevil. A proposed federal quarantine for boll weevil was drafted and published for public comment in early 2007, and the final rule may be published in 2008.
Management
- Communication: Most program personnel communicate via cell phones. Many of the local cotton grower foundations that operate the eradication program provide their growers with newsletters that describe program progress and websites with program information.
- Training: Local foundations provide training to their seasonal and permanent employees as needed.
- Supplies: Important program supplies include pheromone traps, stakes, liquid pheromone, pheromone dispensers, ULV malathion, killstrips, vehicles, ground equipment for treating fields, barcode scanners, barcode labels, and computers.
- Procurement: Local foundations purchase necessary supplies through competitive contracts with vendors.
- Cooperative Agreement (PDF; 78 Kb)
- Federal/State Activities: USDA-APHIS provides federal cost-share funding of up to 30 percent for active eradication areas, along with technical support and coordination across state lines. State cooperators support grower referenda, the collection of grower assessments, the use of state funding when available, regulatory activities, and overall program operation.
- Program Update: Entering the 2008 season, the program had eradicated the boll weevil on over 91 percent of the nation’s 16 million acres of cotton. The remaining areas of infestation are along the Mississippi River and in southern and eastern Texas, and should be completed by 2010.
- Environmental Documents
Contacts
- Headquarters
Bill Grefenstette
USDA-APHIS-PPQ
4700 River Road
Unit 138, Room 5A-04A
Riverdale, MD 20737-1236
(301) 734-8676
E-mail: William.J. Grefenstette@usda.gov - Regions
West – Phil Mason (970) 494-7565
East – Richard Conant (205) 752-5593 - Operational Sites: See local phone listings for “Boll Weevil Eradication Program”
- Contact for Detection/Reporting a Find - Please call any of the numbers shown above