MEMO: COTTON PEST PROGRAM INCREASED CROP YIELDS

A recent survey of 2,200 Missouri cotton farmers indicated that the Cotton Pest Management Program instituted by University of Missouri Outreach and Extension increased yield value by more than $12 million in 1999.

When the program was established in 1982, only 5 percent of Missouri cotton was treated for pests based on pest survey results, said Al Wrather, plant pathologist at MU Delta Research Center in Portageville, Mo. Now 82 percent of Missouri cotton fields are intensively scouted to pinpoint pests and diseases before treatment.

The survey showed pest survey management increases yields by 50 pounds of lint per acre compared with fields where no pest surveys are conducted.

"The yield increase in 1999 due to use of pest surveys was 18.75 million pounds of lint," Wrather said. "This increase, calculated at 65 cents per pound, was valued at $12.2 million."