The last piece of the puzzle is finally in place for boll weevil eradication on the South Plains. Cotton growers in Cochran, Hockley, Terry, Lubbock and portions of Crosby, Dickens, Garza and Lynn counties recently voted 2996 to 732 in favor of establishing the Southern High Plains-Caprock eradication zone.

The four-to-one ballot approval creates a 1.2 million-acre active control zone in these eight counties — the largest of eight active eradication zones in Texas. Eradication programs in regional zones are first approved by producers, and are funded by a combination of farmer assessments and state and federal monies.

More information on boll weevil eradication efforts now underway in Texas is available by visiting the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation website (http://www.txbollweevil.org).

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The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University reports that the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission endorsed a plan that will increase the amount of water El Paso gets from the Rio Grande and decrease the city's reliance on underground resources, such as the Hueco Bolson aquifer. When the plan, called the El Paso-Las Cruces Regional Sustainable Water Project, is fully implemented, El Paso will get more than half of its drinking water from the river.

The $350 million plan calls for the construction of three surface-water treatment plants, the expansion of one treatment plant, the storage of treated water in the Hueco Bolson aquifer and the construction of a 32-mile aqueduct. When all of this is operational, El Paso will be able to treat more than 200 million gallons of river water per day.

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The Texas Department of Agriculture has extended by a month the deadline for accepting research proposals for the Texas-Israel Exchange Grant Program from Dec. 1 until Jan. 2. The program provides grants for cooperative agricultural research in Texas and Israel that advances water conservation as well as food and aquaculture production under semi-arid conditions.

Proposals must involve a researcher from both Texas and Israel, and the projects must describe how results are expected to benefit the citizens of Texas and Israel. In addition, the TIE Grant Program has a 50 percent matching requirement from other funding sources besides TDA and JNF.

More information on the TIE-grant proposal requirements is available from Carol Funderburgh, contracts and grants coordinator, at (512) 463-8536, fax (512) 463-8170, or via e-mail at cfunderb@agr.state.tx.us> Coorespondence may addressed to: Intergovernmental Affairs Division, Texas Department of Agriculture, PO Box 12847, Austin, Texas, 78711. The IPM Grant Program Request for Proposals also can be found at the following website: www.agr.state.tx.us/producer_info/tiereq.htm.

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The Department of Animal Science and Food Technology at Texas Tech University has teamed up with Intervet to create the Internet-accessible North American TBA Implant database (http://idb.asft.ttu.edu/).

The easy-to-use Internet site contains the results of hundreds of beef implant research trials. The objective for developing the database is to provide implant users and others with a convenient tool for examining the results of studies conducted to measure the effectiveness of implants now being used in the feedlot industry.

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The Associated Press reports that Oklahoma passed a key milestone last week by going 12 months without a known case of brucellosis. If no cases of the bacterial cattle disease are found within a year of the last case, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes the state as "brucellosis-free."

Dr. Burke Healey, the state veterinarian, said Oklahoma is completing paperwork and final testing on "suspect cases" but anticipates receiving the designation in February.

Oklahoma, Missouri, Florida and Texas are the only states yet to have their cattle herds declared free of the contagious disease. Last Friday, the Agriculture Department declared South Dakota free.

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German authorities banned use of animal-based feeds yesterday in an effort to calm consumer anxiety about beef safety. Beef sales have dropped 50 percent in Germany since the first cases of BSE in German-born cattle was discovered last week. Authorities will begin widescale testing of cattle this week, and the country's finance minister has rejected plans for major aid to producers as beef prices continue to fall.

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Egg cartons must soon bear new safety warning labels advising proper cooking to prevent foodborne illness from salmonella. It is estimated that one in every 20,000 eggs is infected with the pathogen. The new FDA rule allows producers nine months to add the warning labels.

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Agriculture committees in Callahan and Coleman counties will host a five-hour CEU training on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at the Cross Plains Community Center located at 108 N. Beech. Registration will be at 8:30 a.m. and the program will begin at 9 a.m. TDA has approved the program for one hour in Laws & Regulations, two hours in Integrated Pest Management, and two hours in the General category. These hours will apply to Commercial, Non-Commercial and Private Applicators' license holders.

More information and pre-registration are available from Robert Pritz, CEA-Agriculture in Callahan County, at (915) 854-1518, or Lance Rasch, CEA-Agriculture in Coleman County at (915) 625-4519.

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The land management skills of Kansas ranchers, specifically the practice of burning the prairie, are on display in the nation's capitol.

The photos, which hang in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. through March 31, were taken by Flint Hills ranchers Annie and John Wilson, who run about 550 head of cattle near Emporia.

An Associated Press report quotes Annie Wilson as saying, "This is a great opportunity to let people know what a wonderful ecosystem the prairie is. Ranchers are not just raising beef; they are preserving open landscapes, conserving soil and water, and protecting species diversity and wildlife habitat."

The Smithsonian, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, organized the exhibit, entitled "Listening to the Prairie: Farming in Nature's Image." It shows how farmers and ranchers use and preserve rangeland in Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois and South Dakota. It will later travel to 20 cities across the United States.

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The Kroger Co. said it is cooperating with a voluntary ground beef recall announced by American Foods Group Inc., a wholesale meat supplier based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. American Foods announced the recall as a precautionary measure after the Minnesota Department of Health linked 22 recent illnesses related to E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria to ground beef that may have been processed by American Foods.

Kroger, which does not operate in Minnesota, has not received any complaints of illness related to the product.

In accordance with American Foods' recall, Kroger is asking consumers to check their freezers for any ground beef dated November 4 through November 22 that was purchased from Kroger, King Soopers, City Marke or Hilander stores in the following states: Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Colorado, and Wyoming.

In addition, customers should also check their freezers for Kroger-brand ground beef purchased in one, three or five pound tubes dated November 19 or November 20 from Kroger stores in the following states: Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina.