News
Keeping US cotton competitive
The US Cotton Trust protocol sets a new standard for sustainably grown cotton. Dr. Jesse Daystar, chief sustainability officer, with Cotton Incorporated says the program will help keep US cotton competitive. “We had heard a lot of feedback from groups like Target that the US needs to create a program yesterday, or today, so they could continue to buy their cotton,” he says. “Otherwise they would have to go to competing programs that are sourcing cotton from other regions of the world. And we didn’t like that. That was the driving force to get this going over the past few years.”
Dr. Gary Adams from the National Cotton Council says the program will provide a strong message to customers of US cotton, and also add long-term value for producers. “There may be some opportunities to continue to improve going forward in reducing that environmental footprint and hopefully also having a positive impact on the bottom line on the economic side,” he says.
There were 300 producers enrolled in the Trust Protocol for the 2019 crop and by 2025 they hope to have 50 percent of US cotton enrolled in the program.
Click HERE to learn more about the US Cotton Trust protocol.
Daystar and Adams made their comments during a recent Cotton & Coffee Episode, hosted by The Cotton Board.
