By Alabama Public Radio
Undated – The city of Enterprise has a monument to the boll weevil. It ravaged the area's cotton crops in the 19-teens and forced south Alabama farmers to diversify. That, in turn, created an economic turnaround, and the pest has been honored there ever since. The boll weevil, however, is in retreat. The national coordinator for boll weevil eradication says the insect is controlled on at least 80 percent of America's cotton-growing land. Eradication efforts began in 1983, and now all of the country's cotton-producing areas participate. Cotton is Alabama's fifth largest commodity.