The National Cotton Council, the umbrella group for growers, ginners, merchants and manufacturers, said the industry has set six goals for improving environmental stewardship by 2015, including a 39-percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. The council’s chairman, grower Ronnie Lee of Georgia, says the industry “wants to be the supplier of choice for those who are committed to only buying cotton that is produced with sustainable and responsible environmental, safety and labor practices.”
Sustainability task force chairman Ted Schneider said the goals are to reduce by 13 percent the amount of land needed to grow a pound of cotton, reduce soil loss by 50 percent, increase water efficiency by 18 percent, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 39 percent, increase soil carbon by 30 percent, and reduce energy consumed during ginning by 15 percent. The task force developed the goals following a council vote in favor of measurable and continual improvements in stewardship.
The United States is one of the largest cotton growers and exporters of the world. The trade group Cotton Inc. said that with the task force’s work, “the United States may be the only country in the world with these kind of specific, measurable, quantified goals.” The industry will use benchmarks developed by an outside group, Field to Market, for measuring progress toward its goals.