Cotton Boll Weevil An Evaluation of USDA Programs : a Report (1981) / Chapter Skim
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SUMMARY
SUMMARY
Pages 1-7
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Furthermore, efforts to control these pests and the many others that also attack the cotton plant have been hampered by the practical difficulties involved in carrying out coordinated control programs among thousands of cotton growers spread out over large geographic areas. As the demand for cotton has gradually declined in the United States, as each new insecticide has lost its effectiveness against the boll weevil, and as the costs of growing cotton have increased,
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The principal purpose of this report is to review the conclusions reached from the two experiments as to the probable biological, economic, and environmental effects that might result from federal implementation of either a BWE or OPM program throughout the Cotton Belt. Chapter l of the report provides an overall description of cotton culture in the United States and of the insect pests which attack cotton, while Chapter 2 summarizes the various efforts that have been made to reduce the economic damage caused by these pests.
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The probability of success of each level of program effort should be stated, and it is necessary to compare a realistic range of potential benefits with a realistic range of possible costs. After reviewing the USDA evaluation team reports, the NRC Committee came to the following conclusions about the BWE and OPM trials and the USDA evaluation teams' extrapolation of the data from the trials to beltwide programs: USDA Biological Evaluation Team Report The USDA biological evaluation was based only on data from the two trial areas; therefore, the biologists were unable to make probabilistic extrapolations about the possible effects of either method on the entire boll weevil belt.
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. The NRC Committee agrees that if eradication of the boll weevil is adopted as a joint policy and financial responsibility of the federal and state governments and cotton growers, the short-range costs of cotton insect control, both economic and environmental, will rise relative to continuation of current insect control practices.
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Since no beltwide data were provided on the existing levels of pesticide residues or on the residues that would be added by implementing either an OPM or a BWE program, the NRC Committee was unable to evaluate the projected environmental impact. Any beltwide conclusions extrapolated from environmental effects during the OPM or BWE trials are unjustified.
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Operational and Sociological Considerations The NRC Committee believes that a precondition for implementation of any eradication program would be a commitment by Cotton Belt states to establish the necessary regulatory authority and to appropriate the necessary financial support. No evidence was presented that such commitments have been made or can be obtained.
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From page 7... ...
Also missing are plans for coping with plants outside cotton fields which may be boll weevil hosts. RECOMMENDATION The NRC Committee unanimously recommends that integrated pest management (IPM)
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