NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials will poll cotton growers over whether they want to keep paying for a boll weevil eradication program.

Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher announced that cotton producers in the state can vote March 11 to March 22 at local U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency offices.

The boll weevil program was first implemented in Tennessee in 1994 and let cotton producers join other cotton-producing states in spraying, trapping and monitoring the insects.

The state says Tennessee officially eradicated the boll weevil in 2009, but the program currently monitors boll weevils and aims to prevent their reappearance.

The ballot caps the assessment rate at $5 per acre for cotton growers, though the rate has not exceeded $1.50 an acre since 2010.

State law requires the referendum at least every decade.