Writer: Steve Byrns, (915) 653-4576,s-byrns@tamu.edu
WALL – Powder-dry conditions and another failed cotton crop had little effect on 700 farmers, legislators, and others who packed St. Ambrose Hall here recently to celebrate victory over the boll weevil in the Southern Rolling Plains Boll Weevil Eradication Zone.
The zone made history by being the first in Texas to rid itself of the boll weevil.
The weevil is the No. 1 pest of cotton in the United States. Before eradication, the pest annually cost the 10-county Southern Rolling Plains zone $2 million to $4 million and the state $25 million to $50 million.
The counties in the region are Coke, Coleman, Concho, Irion, Mason, McCulloch, Runnels, Schleicher, Tom Green, and southern Taylor. To date, the program has cost about $20 million. It is funded by individual farmer assessments and some state monies.
“I’m truly thrilled to be here today to make this declaration that the Southern Rolling Plains zone is functionally eradicated,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs. “We’re here to say thank you, because you never quit.”
Combs was also quick to commend the region’s legislators, past and present, for their strong role in backing the effort and especially for convincing their urban peers to support it.
“‘See No Weevil’ will soon be ‘Fear No Weevil,'” Combs said, referring to a pamphlet warning of the dangers of weevil re-infestation into the now weevil-free zone. “I want to do more of these (declarations) across the state,” she said. “Call your friends and neighbors everywhere and say cotton is still king in Texas.”
The “See No Weevil” pamphlet is part of a statewide awareness campaign developed by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and funded by the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation. Its purpose is to heighten awareness among ginners and producers of the real threat of re-infestation from non-eradicated zones. It also stresses ways to prevent such a disaster.
Woody Anderson, board chairman of the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation from Colorado City, thanked those responsible for the 6-year-old program’s success, including the growers who helped put the zone’s plan together, the zone’s employees, the various agencies involved and State Rep. Rob Junell, D-San Angelo; Sen. Bob Duncan, R-Lubbock, and U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Abilene.
David Kubenka a Wall cotton grower and president of the Southern Rolling Plains Cotton Producers Association, reminded the gathering of the historic importance of what they had accomplished.
“This was the first area to initiate the eradication program and as such was viewed as a test site,” he said. Originally, the state plan was to begin in the lower Rio Grande Valley and move north, but Southern Rolling Plains growers convinced the foundation to start on two fronts–theirs and the valley.
Kubenka said the Rio Grande Valley gave up after the beet armyworm largely destroyed their crops in 1995. But, the Southern Rolling Plains producers, despite the loss of a top crop, decided to buckle down and make the grower-owned program work.
Junell, a staunch supporter of the program, stressed the importance of partnerships necessary to make producer programs work.
“The best thing we (government) can do is provide expertise and dollars and then get out of the way,” he said. Junell added that a key reason for the success and acceptance of the Southern Rolling Plains program was that early on it was understood that landowners and producers were not asking for a handout, but for assistance with a war they were putting their own money into.
Sid Long of Robert Lee, executive director of the region’s Cotton Growers Association, has been a driving force behind the eradication effort.
“Naturally I’m elated that we finally reached this milestone,” he said. “But, I’m also pessimistic that it’s not all over yet. We must keep our guard up against the very real threat of re-infestation. We’ll have to be on our toes, especially when we do finally get a good wet year. If we don’t, we might suddenly wake up at mid-season with weevils.
“I’ll not rest easy until the whole state is eradicated. The worst thing we could do now is waste these producers’ money by becoming complacent.”
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