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A clear example of the agricultural risks created by over applying pesticides is the boll weevil war. As the
nation's leading producer of cotton, Texas pays a good deal of attention to the boll weevil. Texas farmers estimate that each year the boll weevil may claim up to five percent of their crop.* So, when several cotton-producing areas of Texas voted to take part in the USDA Boll Weevil Eradication Program in 1995, farmers in those regions looked forward to higher yields in a year when cotton prices were predicted to be at a premium.
The theory behind the federal program is to engage all cotton farmers in an area in a massive pesticide assault
(usually using malathion) on the boll weevil so that it is entirely eliminated from a region. If successful, future pesticide use and costs would be reduced, and cotton yields increased.
All cotton farmers within an eradication area are required to take part in the program. Despite some
misgivings, the majority of cotton farmers initially supported the Texas eradication program. Funded largely by the growers themselves, the program began in full swing in South Texas in May
1995.
The initial results were disastrous. Lower Rio Grande Valley cotton growers lost an estimated 365,000 acres of
cotton, valued at $140 million.* The region produced about 54,000 bales of cotton, compared to almost 308,000 bales the previous year.* Cotton farmers in the San Angelo area who participated in the program lost more than half their crop, with loses valued at about $60 million.
The USDA research office in the Lower Rio Grande Valley released a report tying the crop destruction directly
to the eradication program, concluding that the malathion spraying killed beneficial insects, such as spiders and wasps, which usually hold other pests in check. In this case, the predators
of beet army worms were eradicated, causing the cotton-eating worms to take over the cotton fields.* The study found the density of beet army worms in Valley cotton fields to be 164 times the density of the worms in Mexican cotton fields 15 miles away. Less than one percent of the cotton leaves in Mexico were damaged by the worm, while 71.4 percent of the leaves on Valley plants were worm-eaten.*
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