It’s Not Easy Going Organic
Although organic cotton clothing is becoming more popular and easier to find, it only makes up a tiny percentage of all cotton sales. Only about 0.1% of global cotton production is organic. In countries such as the US, this probably won’t change too much due to the high cost of growing cotton (organic or not) compared to countries with cheaper labour costs such as India, Pakistan, and Turkey.
What is Organic Cotton?
Organic cotton can be defined as:
Fibre that does not come from genetically modified (GM) seed and has been grown without the use of man-made pesticides and fertilisers.
In fields where synthetic chemicals have been used in the past, it takes about three growing cycles to make the full conversion. The change-over to organic is arguably tougher in America, a chemical-loving country where 80% of the cotton crop comes from GM seeds; globally, only about 20% of cotton comes from such seeds.
The reliance on chemical inputs has been blamed for a range of problems, from water contamination to unusually high cancer rates.
The US is developing a Sustainable Cotton Project which aims to help cotton farmers reduce their use on chemicals rather than completely eliminate them. They also promote eliminating the use of genetically modified crops and using more sustainable farming practices, as discussed here:
Since most cotton growers can’t take the risk of experimenting with how to harvest cotton absent chemical defoliants, advocates have set their sights on simply lowering, rather than eliminating, the amount of chemicals used in cultivation. A program run by the Sustainable Cotton Project called BASIC — biological agricultural systems in cotton — encourages farmers to quit GM seeds and adopt more sustainable practices such as composting, cover cropping, and organic pest management. In 2006, some 1,200 acres of cotton are being grown under BASIC guidelines.
The problem is that cotton growers can’t compete with cheaper producers of cotton and it’s too risky to convert to certified organic cotton farming. So they’ve found a little middle ground which could in the future make the switch to going organic a little easier.
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