Arkansas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation
Protecting our cotton farmers since 1997.
Quick Facts:
The Arkansas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (ABWEF) is a non-profit corporation organized in 1993 to implement a program (ABWEP) of boll weevil eradication in Arkansas. Operations of the program are managed across 32 cotton-producing counties segmented into five zones – Southwest, Southeast, Central, Northeast Ridge, and Northeast Delta.
ABWEF has met its goal of eradication in all zones and currently operates in the maintenance phase of the program.
Arkansas is ranked #4 in cotton and cottonseed production.
Arkansas is ranked #4 in the number of acres planted.
Arkansas cotton exports in total, are valued at $463 million.
Nearly 200,000 people in the U.S. work in the cotton industry. This contributes roughly $30 billion to the U.S. economy each year.
Sources: (Arkansas Farm Bureau and UofA Division of Agriculture)
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The program started in 1997 and was conducted over a five-year period. The first phase of the program in each zone was fall diapause. All cotton fields were mapped, and one trap was deployed to each field to gather information of the local weevil populations which helped set a base number of weevils to use for comparison. Aerial and ground applications of malathion were applied weekly starting in August and continuing through defoliation, harvest, and crop destruction or a killing freeze.
Starting in the program’s second year, the program focused its efforts solely on mapping, trapping, and treating fields. Applications in treated fields were based on weevil catches. Once a zone was deemed weevil-free, the maintenance phase of the program was initiated.
We are currently in this maintenance phase, and trapping continues to monitor the fields to ensure the weevil-free environment.
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Find Your Zone
ABWEP operations are managed across 32 cotton-producing counties segmented into five zones – Southwest, Southeast, Central, Northeast Ridge, and Northeast Delta.
All zones, except the Delta, were brought into the program with a grower referendum. The Delta Zone was brought into the eradication program under the authority of the Arkansas State Plant Board (ASPB), when the ASPB and ABWEP entered into an agreement for ABWEP to operate the program in conjunction with the ongoing program procedures of the other zones.
Each zone is managed by a zone supervisor. If you have a question, please feel free to reach out to your zone supervisor at any time. To connect with your zone supervisor, begin by finding your zone by clicking below.
ABWEP Office Contact:
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The concept, organization, and implementation of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program is without question one of the most important achievements in the history of U.S. cotton.
— Farm Progress Magazine