Boll Weevil Eradication Fees Going Down Again

The Boll Weevil Eradication Program in Louisiana was started several years ago as part of a concentrated effort Belt Wide to once and for all eliminate that major pest from all cotton fields. And it worked. No boll weevils have been spotted anywhere in Louisiana in almost too long to count.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain says the legislature has made a change in the funding of the program by eliminating the boll weevil fund.

“We have not used that fund since the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that said funds derived from assessments based on referendums was unconstitutional,” said Strain.

“We’ve been running the program through the horticultural quarantine program and the horticultural quarantine fund.”

So now the legislature has lowered the assessment to cotton producers to $4 per acre.

Before the BWEP this was not an uncommon sight in cotton fields.

“When I first came into office,” Strain continued, “it was $6 per acre then $5 and now we are at $4 per acre. We continue to do our work to monitor not only cotton fields and non-cotton fields but also equipment to make sure we do not have a re-introduction of the boll weevil.”