§ 76-6B-9 — Organic cotton regulations

A. Each organic cotton producer within an established pink bollworm control district shall notify the pink bollworm control committee in writing at least thirty days prior to planting of the number of acres on which organic cotton will be planted. B. Organic cotton producers shall pay the assessment established for the pink bollworm control district in the same manner as producers of conventionally grown cotton in the district. C. After crop planting, the pink bollworm control committee shall notify an organic cotton producer of the status of pink bollworm on his acreage and the status of pink bollworm on surrounding acres, as documented by the committee's normal pink bollworm trapping program. D. The pink bollworm control committee shall confer with an organic cotton producer to determine measures that might be taken to attempt to keep all or a portion of the organic cotton producer's cotton acreage below trigger levels for required treatment. If the organic cotton producer chooses to use a nonconventional method, the committee shall pay the costs of the nonconventional method used by the organic cotton producer, provided the costs do not exceed the equivalent costs of conventional control methods. If pink bollworm trigger levels are reached on the organic cotton producer's acres and pink bollworm migration from outside these acres has been eliminated as a cause of these levels, the organic cotton producer shall be allowed to harvest these acres but shall not be allowed to grow cotton on the acreage for one year.

Legislative History

Laws 2001, ch. 13, § 9.