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December 7, 2001

Weevil eradication
retention referendums due

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

On the heels of the recent South Texas/Winter Garden Boll Weevil Eradication Zone retention referendum in which growers voted to continue the program by a 7-to-1 margin, growers in two other zones—Southern Rolling Plains and Rolling Plains Central—will cast ballots in a similar referendum early next year. The tentative dates for ballots to be mailed out to SRP cotton producers is Jan. 14 with a return postmark no later than Feb. 1 while RPC ballots are tentatively set to go out Feb. 21 with a scheduled return date and postmark of March 11 or before.

Additionally, growers in the Upper Coastal Bend will cast ballots to determine whether or not they will begin a program in that zone. UCB ballots are tentatively scheduled to be mailed Jan. 9 with a due date and postmark of Jan. 25 or earlier.

Final results for the 26-county South Texas/Winter Garden Boll Weevil Eradication Zone in October were 1,254 voting "for" and 174 voting "against" continuing the program in the zone, which encompasses some 465,000 acres.

"That zone retention election indicates they have seen what the benefits are in increased yields and production," said George Caldwell, Texas Farm Bureau associate Commodity and Regulatory Activities director. "These elections are very important. It's the last stages of completion for total eradication. The referendum provides for the procedures to keep it coordinated and fund the procedures that need to be done. They still have the threat of weevils. This is to prevent reinfestation. When these areas finish their payment schedule, then the maintenance fees will be greatly reduced. It will drastically reduce the cost of controlling boll weevils."

TDA has developed guidelines to prevent possible reinfestation on movement of cotton articles and equipment as well as for cotton stalk destruction.

"The biggest advantage of the boll weevil program is when it has accomplished its goal, it will reduce the cost of production so Texas growers are able to compete with areas that don't have boll weevil problems or that have already achieved eradication, such as the Delta region and other cotton-producing states in the Southeast," Caldwell added.

Producers in the Southern Rolling Plains zone, which has been declared "functionally eradicated," are very close to that point now. In fact, the SRP zone is moving towards a "full eradication" designation.

Sid Long, executive director of the Southern Rolling Plains Cotton Council and a member of the SRP zone steering committee, said of the retention vote, "I would expect 80 percent passage or better," said "We did not catch a single weevil this year in our 275,000 traps and did not treat a single acre. I hope that will be the case from now on. Taking into account that could happen, next year the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (TBWEF) is going to allow us to have another 80 percent assessment collection. That should pay our debt and then in 2003, we should strictly be down to a maintenance-type cost for the producer. We're looking for that to be somewhere around $5 per acre."

Because of drought and low commodity prices, the SRP has experienced a wide swing in cotton acreage since their program began.

"We've had as low as 150,000 acres planted a few years ago and as high as 400,000 in 2000. This year, we had about 250,000 acres planted and harvested about 240,000. That would have been our high for the past 10 years. Normally, we run somewhere around 200,000 in cotton acres, and I anticipate that next year," said Long, basing his projection on price.

Assessments on the 400,000-acre cotton surge in a season that required zero weevil treatments made a dent in the program's debt. Although the SRP will have some expenses associated with trapping and monitoring, Long suggested the addition of other zones to the overall effort should lower maintenance costs.

Steve Moore farms in the Roscoe and Scurry County area. Moore is Rolling Plains Cotton Growers president and serves on the RPC zone steering committee.

"I think the program's working great. We've more or less eradicated the boll weevil. The only weevils we're catching are around the edges, coming in from other zones. The Caprock zone is on our north and west edge. They're in the program now, but in their first year, so they've still got weevils migrating. But we're considered functionally eradication. I think the announcement will come out before the referendum," said Moore.

While Moore believes the majority of producers in his zone are still very happy with the eradication program, he has some reservations as to whether or not the retention will pass.

"Right now, I feel that it will, but times are tough, and producers feel like they have to cut somewhere. We've had five years of bad crops and prices as low as they've been in years."

Moore said the one decent year RPC zone producers had was in 1997. He attributes that success solely to the effectiveness of the program.

“We had a drought, and then we had late rains. We had a fair crop, but it was strictly because we had a weevil program,” he said.

Moore said some opposition was voiced at a recent zone steering committee meeting. The suggestion was that if the assessment were lowered, it would get more support.

“I personally wouldn’t want to do that,” said Moore. “We’d be paying interest on borrowed money, but I’d rather do that than lose the program. We’re about to have some informational meetings, right after the first of the year, to get a better feel of the situation. I think we’re going to tell them, kind of more or less, we’re through. We’re in a position now to see the benefits. Whether we continue or not, we’re still going to have to pay this debt back.”

Lindy Patton, TBWEF executive director, said the Rolling Plains Central zone is supposed to received $2.7 million from the state and $6.2 million from the federal government to pay for their 2002 boll weevil eradication program.

“If the referendum fails, they won’t be eligible for it,” he said. “It will certainly help pay down their debt. They’re going to pay either way. Plus they’re at a critical point. They’ve done the job. If you stop the program and allow the weevils to come back, you lose your investment and have a higher debt to pay off.”

Patton welcomed the long-awaited freeze that finished off the West Texas crop at the end of November, but lamented, “We budget through Nov. 1. We’re a month late and it has cost us an additional $3 million a week.”

“There have also been rumblings that the Senate is working on the farm bill, that something may happen soon,” he said. “It helped that they passed the appropriations bill. It’s a big shot in the arm and will make it possible to pay off the debt sooner.”

Patton has high hopes for the establishment of a program and assessment in the Upper Coastal Bend.