Cotton growers in Central Texas will take part in the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in 2001 following an overwhelming vote in favor of joining the program by growers in February.Participation in the program is mandatory for any producer who plants cotton. The program costs $12 an acre for dry land cotton farms and $27 an acre for irrigated cotton. Nearly all Central Texas cotton is produced on dry land farms, according to the Texas Extension Service.The 63-county Southern Blacklands Zone is the largest of 13 designated zones in the state but the one with the least amount of cotton acreage.Williamson County, with about 30,000 acres of cotton, is the biggest producer in the area, according to Cliff Hoelscher, an entomologist with the Texas Extension Service.Milam County produces about 12,000 acres annually, Falls 8,000 acres and Bell 6,000."This is a big change for our growers," Hoelscher says. "Historically, farmers have managed their own pests. Now it becomes a communitywide effort."