The Pink Bollworm Program is probably the most successful and longest running yet least known area wide biological control programs in the world.
This unique integrated pest control program has been in continual operation since 1967. The cotton growers of California fund the Cooperative Pink Bollworm Program almost entirely through a bale assessment on each bale of cotton ginned in the state. USDA contributes about 5 percent of the total funding. For 39 years, program activities have successfully prevented incipient infestations of pink bollworm (PBW) from becoming established in the cotton growing areas of the San Joaquin Valley. The Pink Bollworm Program uses an integrated pest control approach relying on trapping, sterile release, crop destruction, and occasional pheromone treatments of keep infestations below economic impact levels.
The program does not use pesticides, but rather uses sterile PBW moths to overwhelm these infestations. Sterile moths are produced at the CDFA/USDA Pink Bollworm Rearing Facility in Phoenix, Arizona. To determine where sterile moths need to be released, program personnel put out pheromone-baited traps and inspect them weekly from April through October. Sterile PBW moths are sent to California daily and released by aircraft over target areas determined by trapping results. Pink bollworm threatens the 900,000 acres of cotton grown in the San Joaquin Valley, which is valued at nearly one billion dollars annually.
If PBW became established in the San Joaquin Valley, millions of pounds of pesticides would be introduced into the environment, annually, just to control PBW. It is estimated that an additional seven pounds per acre or 6.13 million pounds of pesticides would have to be used every year to control PBW and related secondary pests in the San Joaquin Valley. Establishment of pink bollworm in the San Joaquin Valley could increase cotton growers pest control costs by - per acre.
Besides using sterile PBW moths, the program occasionally uses pheromone to disrupt the moths mating activities. Pheromone is the substance secreted by the female pink bollworm moth to attract the male moth. The pheromone used to disrupt pink bollworm is a synthetic chemical with the same structure and activity as a natural pheromone.
Cotton is one of the most important crops grown in California. In 1997, California cotton lint production was valued at million and was the states No. 1 agricultural export, generating million. Adding cottonseed values made the total 1997 cotton crop worth over one billion dollars. California grows 15 percent of all cotton in the United States and is number two in national rankings in cotton production. Leading the California cotton production are Fresno, Kings, Kern, Merced, and Tulare counties.
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