Boll weevils are an agricultural pest that feeds primarily on cotton. After their arrival in the 1890s, they caused devastation across the South-Eastern United States, starting a battle that’s raged for more than 130 years. This episode, Paul Csomo of the award-winning Varmints! podcast joins us to discuss these creatures, their adaptions, and their agricultural history.

Tune in to learn:

• How many types of weevils are in the world
• How boll weevils shaped agriculture in the South-Eastern United States
• How scientists, farmers, and government agencies united to eradicate the boll weevil threat
• How boll weevils have slipped into pop culture today

If you would like to find transcripts for this episode or sign up for our newsletter, please visit our website: http://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/

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If you would like to reach out to Paul, you can find him here: [email protected] Twitter: @varmintspodcast

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b66F129ED-AA32-EC11-8139-005056A7AFA5%7d 

Varmints! Podcast: https://varmints.podbean.com/

Matt Shipman, NC State, 2017: The Boll Weevil War, or How Farmers and Scientists Saved Cotton in the South: https://news.ncsu.edu/2017/05/boll-weevil-war-2017/

Boll Weevil by The Presidents of the United States of America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uBmii5es7Q

Boll Weevil Monument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_Weevil_Monument

Boll Weevil Economic Impact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_weevil#Impact

Encyclopedia Entry for Boll Weevil: https://www.britannica.com/animal/boll-weevil

National Cotton Council of America: https://www.cotton.org/tech/pest/bollweevil/eradication4.cfm

The Great Migration: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration#:~:text=The%20Great%20Migration%20was%20the,from%20about%201916%20to%201970

The Boll Weevil in Missouri: https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g4255

Boll Weevil Eradication: https://www.cotton.org/tech/pest/bollweevil/eradication2.cfm

Boll Weevil general info: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anthonomus_grandis/

Field, Lab, Earth is copyrighted to the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.