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Trust Protocol continues to highlight sustainability in cotton production
The US Cotton Trust Protocol says Earth Day is the perfect time to highlight the increased sustainability of US cotton production.
David Blakemore is a board member and a cotton ginner from Missouri. “We’re holding the soil, we’re using cover crops, we’re using legumes to help fix nitrogen,” he says. “The tillage radishes that are being used to help take the fertilizer down and hold it, and then release it over the year.”
He tells Brownfield one of the biggest environmental improvements came when the cotton industry eradicated the boll weevil. “It required farmers to use a tremendous amount of pesticides (to control them) in the past,” he says. “There’s no boll weevil now and now we’ve gone to ‘softer’ pesticides that are more friendly.”
The US Cotton Trust Protocol was launched to highlight the increased sustainability of cotton production and provide certainty to customers. “What they’re getting out there is not taking away what we have but is able to maintain and with the US Cotton Trust Protocol prove we’re in constant improvement and improve our carbon footprint,” he says.
The Trust Protocol, launched in 2020, is voluntary and allows the industry to report on six key sustainability metrics from the farm-level: land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency. Blakemore says it also adds value for producers. USCTP has helped establish principles of continuous improvement and drive all US cotton production toward the 2025 sustainability targets.
The signup deadline for the 2022 growing season is April 30th. For more information, growers can visit www.trustuscotton.org.
AUDIO: David Blakemore, US Cotton Trust Protocol
