Losing Chlordimeform Use in Cotton Production: Its Effects on the Economy and Pest Resistance

U.S. consumers and producers could annually lose $148 million once chlordimeform, a cotton insecticide, is removed from the market. The action could accelerate the resistance of the bollworm and tobacco budworm to pyrethroids (a group of important cotton insecticides often used in conjunction with chlordimeform). If so, the U.S. consumer and producer loss could annually rise to $832 million. Pest damage would reduce cotton yields. Available alternative insect control measures, which are less effective and more expensive than chlordimeform and pyrethroids, would raise production costs. Reduced cotton production and acreage would raise cotton prices. So, some cotton producers would gain, while cotton consumers would lose. However, more corn, sorghum, and soybeans would be planted in place of cotton, lowering prices for those commodities. Thus, consumers of those commodities would gain, while producers would lose. If more effective alternatives to chlordimeform and pyrethroids became available, the economic effects of the removal would decline.