Georgia’s history and cotton production have been closely linked since 1733, when the colony was founded and cotton was first planted in Trustee’s Garde near Savannah. After the boll weevil first appeared in Thomasville in 1915, cotton production declined rapidly from 2.8 million bales in 1914 to 600,000 bales in 1923. Aerial applications of calcium arsenate dust began in the early 1920s and helped increase yields somewhat, but the industry never recovered and production continued to fall steadily for another 60 years. By 1983, Georgia produced only 112,000 bales on 115,000 harvested acres. The active treatment and trapping phase of the boll weevil eradication program began in 1987 and was completed in 1990. Since the boll weevil was eliminated as an economic pest and Bt transgenic cotton was commercialized, cotton insect management changed dramatically. Before boll weevil elimination, Georgia producers applied 10 to 20 insecticide treatments each season to control boll weevils and other pests; after elimination, applications fell to four or five from 1992 to 1995. Beginning in 1996, the use of Bt cotton further reduced insecticide needs by eliminating treatment for tobacco budworm and significantly reducing treatment for corn earworm. These changes allowed producers to fully implement integrated pest management tactics such as scouting, thresholds, cultural practices, variety selection, biological control, and as-needed insecticide use. In Georgia, integrated pest management reduced insecticide use, lowered crop production costs, delayed pest resistance problems, improved market competitiveness, and increased crop profitability. The elimination of the boll weevil, the use of Bt transgenic cotton, and the implementation of integrated pest management contributed to cotton production in Georgia increasing from 250,000 acres in 1987 to 1,268,606 acres in 2017. The Georgia Boll Weevil Eradication Program is operated by the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation of Georgia, Inc., a nonprofit organization funded wholly by Georgia cotton producers, and in 2019 producers funded monitoring and responses to local boll weevil reintroductions through an annual per bale assessment of $0.75.