Senate OKs bill to expand boll weevil program

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The battle against the pesky boll weevil -- an insect that damages cotton crops -- may have gotten a legislative boost Tuesday.

Without debate, the Senate voted 32-0 for legislation allowing a vote once every 10 years on whether to continue assessing a tax on cotton farmers to help pay for the eradication of the bug. The current law requires a vote once every five years.

Missouri cotton growers approved the tax last November.

Sen. Bill Foster's bill now heads to the House, which already has its own version pending for debate.

"We want to send a strong message that the boll weevil is no longer welcome in the state," said Foster, R-Poplar Bluff.

Boll weevils arrived in the United States from Mexico in 1892 and have caused an estimated $14 billion in yield losses and control costs to the U.S. cotton industry, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Boll weevil eradication is important in Southeast Missouri, where most of Missouri's cotton is grown and where boll weevil infestation is a problem.

The state's eradication program is conducted in conjunction with the Southeastern Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, based in Malden. It is funded by a $15-per-acre assessment on cotton.

Success elsewhere

As many as 450,000 acres of Missouri land are expected to be planted with cotton this year, most in the Bootheel.

Supporters of the Malden program said similar programs to protect cotton crops have met with success in other states. Eradicating the pest can save millions of dollars in crops.

There also are boll weevil programs in the neighboring states of Arkansas and Tennessee.

Boll weevils already have been eradicated from south Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Boll weevil bill is SB865 (Foster).