Editing Cotton (section)

===Pests and weeds===
[[File:Greene Co Ga1941 Delano.jpg|thumb|Hoeing a cotton field to remove weeds, [[Greene County, Georgia]], US, 1941]]
[[File:Cotton Harlequin Bugs.jpg|thumb|Female and nymph [[cotton harlequin bug]]]]

The cotton industry relies heavily on chemicals, such as [[fertilizers]], [[insecticides]] and [[herbicide]]s, although a very small number of farmers are moving toward an [[Organic farming|organic]] model of production. Under most definitions, organic products do not use [[genetic engineering|transgenic]] ''[[Bacillus thuringiensis|Bt]]'' cotton which contains a [[bacteria]]l gene that codes for a plant-produced [[protein]] that is toxic to a number of pests especially the [[bollworm]]s. For most producers, ''Bt'' cotton has allowed a substantial reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides, although in the long term [[Pesticide resistance#B. thuringiensis|resistance]] may become problematic.

====Global pest problems====
{{Main|List of cotton diseases}}
Significant global pests of cotton include various species of [[bollworm]], such as ''[[Pectinophora gossypiella]]''. Sucking pests include [[Dysdercus|cotton stainers]], the chili thrips, ''[[Scirtothrips dorsalis]]''; the cotton seed bug, ''[[Oxycarenus hyalinipennis]]''. Defoliators include the fall armyworm, ''[[Spodoptera frugiperda]]''.

Cotton yield is threatened by the evolution [[pest evolution|of new biotypes of insects]] and [[crop pathogen evolution|of new pathogens]].<ref name="advances" /> Maintaining good yield requires strategies to slow these adversaries' evolution.<ref name="advances">{{cite book | publisher=[[Springer Nature Switzerland AG]] | last1=Al-Khayri | first1=Jameel M. | last2=Jain | first2=S. Mohan | last3=Johnson | first3=Dennis Victor | series=Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies | volume=6 | title=Industrial and Food Crops | publication-place=Cham | year=2019 | isbn=978-3-030-23265-8 | oclc=1124613891}}{{rp|page=32}}

{{cite journal | last1=Gutierrez | first1=Andrew Paul | last2=Ponti | first2=Luigi | last3=Herren | first3=Hans R | last4=Baumgärtner | first4=Johann | last5=Kenmore | first5=Peter E | title=Deconstructing Indian cotton: weather, yields, and suicides | journal=[[Environmental Sciences Europe]] | publisher=[[Springer Science and Business Media]] | volume=27 | issue=1 | year=2015 | issn=2190-4707 | doi=10.1186/s12302-015-0043-8 | s2cid=3935402| doi-access=free }}</ref>
[[File:Boll weevil.jpg|thumb|A [[boll weevil]] on a cotton boll]]

====North American insect pests====
Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the [[boll weevil]]. Boll weevils are beetles who ate cotton in the 1950s, that slowed the production of the cotton industry drastically. "This bone pile of short budgets, loss of market share, failing prices, abandoned farms, and the new immunity of boll weevils generated a feeling of helplessness"<ref>{{Cite web|title=King_Cotton_in_Modern_America_A_Cultural_Political..._----_(11._"The_Fabric_of_Our_Lives").pdf: ART 2100-01 (95293)|url=https://calstatela.instructure.com/courses/63089/files/7639185?verifier=zc6E9xjUYSqXiH0RfBQRFfmHBJMnLEyINsGXPPsC&wrap=1|access-date=2021-10-19|website=calstatela.instructure.com}}</ref> Boll Weevils first appeared in Beeville, Texas wiping out field after field of cotton in south Texas. This swarm of Boll Weevils swept through east Texas and spread to the eastern seaboard, leaving ruin and devastation in its path, causing many cotton farmers to go out of business.<ref name="auto"/>
 
Due to the [[US Department of Agriculture]]'s highly successful [[Boll Weevil Eradication Program]] (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered [[Bacillus thuringiensis|Bt]] cotton, has improved the management of a number of pests such as [[cotton bollworm (American)|cotton bollworm]] and [[pink bollworm]]. Sucking pests include the cotton stainer, ''[[Dysdercus suturellus]]'' and the tarnish plant bug, ''[[Lygus lineolaris]]''. A significant cotton disease is caused by [[Xanthomonas citri subsp. malvacearum|''Xanthomonas citri'' subsp. ''malvacearum'']].