Hyde-Smith: EPA approves emergency exemption for state’s cotton farmers
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved an emergency exemption that will help farmers in the Mississippi Delta control tarnished plant bugs in cotton.
Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith says the action will allow Transform WG to be used by cotton farmers in Adams, Bolivar, Carroll, Claiborne, Coahoma, Desoto, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Leflore, Panola, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, Warren, Washington and Yazoo counties.
Hyde-Smith says the tarnished plant bug is one of the most damaging cotton pests. She says it has caused an estimated $81 million in combined input costs and yield losses in the Mississippi Delta in 2011.
AP
6/12/11
Magnolia Tribune
