Adventures of Rabbit & Empee: June 2010

10 ORGANIC COTTON FACTS

1. FARMERS
Farming input costs are 15 – 20% lower, since most of the inputs are produced from local resources at farm level (compost, manure, natural pesticides, and seeds). Farmers receive 20 – 30% higher premiums over conventional cotton giving them 40 - 50% higher premiums with 15% of that going back into community development.
2. SUSTAINABILITY
An enhanced crop rotation provides farmer families with a range of different food crops, thus improving their food security and reducing their dependency on the cotton market. Furthermore, the organic production model is often based on long-term partnerships between all the stakeholders along the value chain, strengthening the farmer’s economic security.
3. ELIMINATING CHEMICALS
In 1997, large apparel companies in the US purchased 2.15 million pounds of organic cotton, which eliminated an estimated 43,000 pounds of pesticides and 485,190 pounds of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer
4. NATURAL INSECTICIDES
In India organic farmers intercrop cotton with pigeon peas and make insecticidal sprays from garlic, chili and the neem tree. In California, organic cotton farmers plant habitat strips of vegetation such as alfalfa near their fields as a refuge for beneficial insects.
5. BIODIVERSITY
Organic cotton crops are kept healthy with a number of natural methods that help control weeds and pests. These methods include mechanical or hand-weeding, crop rotation, planting several crops together (intercropping), use of mulches, adjusting planting dates and densities of crops, and introducing beneficial predator insects.
6.LESS WATER
Because of healthy soil, organic cotton farmers need not supply intense irrigation for their crops—the plants themselves use water much more efficiently due to the inherent health of their surrounding environment. Healthy Soil is able to retain water much more efficiently due to presence of organic matter.
7.HEALTHY SOIL
Organically grown crops also yield soils with higher organic matter content, thicker topsoil depth, higher polysaccharides content, and lower modulus of rupture, therefore reducing considerably soil erosion.
8. SEEDS
Organic Cotton farmers can use their own seeds as opposed to having to buy them from corporations. Also, the organic cotton seed is used to feed animals such as dairy cows. The Oil which is derived from organic cottonseed is used as a cooking oil and is used in various foods. Fat-soluble pesticides can become absorbed in the oil.
9. HARVEST
Cotton plants must usually be killed before harvesting. Organic cotton practices use certified materials and lack of water rather than chemical applications to achieve this ready-for-picking state. Though some organic farming operations use machines for harvesting, many rely on the hand-picked method, ensuring a higher quality of cotton and also a higher standard of living for developing countries that produce cotton.
10. FAIR TRADE
Organic Cotton ensures that farmers receive a fair and stable price for the cotton they produce. They also receive an additional amount which can be used to invest in community projects, such as building schools, health centres and improving water supply.
**RABBIT & EMPEE – Only use GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) Certified Organic Cotton which is grown in India and woven in a modern textile mill in Java Indonesia which we periodically visit. As of yet, only conventional cotton is grown in Indonesia. We ship by sea to reduce our carbon footprint and all our family-run workshops are located in Bali, Indonesia**

10 CONVENTIONAL COTTON FACTS

1. CHEMICALS
Less than 3% of the world's crops are cotton yet it accounts for a quarter of the world's insecticide market and 11% of global pesticides sales, making it the most pesticide-intensive crop grown on the planet. Every T-shirt made of conventionally grown cotton requires 1/4 pound of harmful chemicals to produce.
2. POISONING
Accidental pesticide poisoning causes 220,000 deaths and 3 million non-fatal poisonings every year, worldwide. Originally formulated as nerve gases for warfare, at least 107 active ingredients in pesticides are carcinogenic. Pesticides are responsible for birth defects, respiratory problems, behavioral changes, infertility, sterility, hormonal imbalances and a variety of short-term maladies.
3. CONTAMINATION
Aldicarb, cotton's second best selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries and the US, where 16 states have reported it in their groundwater.
4. INSECTICIDES
Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land and uses approximately 24% of the word's insecticides
5. FERTILIZERS
Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton in 2000 (142 pounds/acre), making cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans. Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers are a major contributor to increased N2O emissions, which are 300 times more potent than CO2 as greenhouse gas. This is ominous for global warming as synthetic fertilizer use is forecasted to increase roughly 2.5 times by mid-century.
6. SKIN REACTIONS
The consumer can suffer from reactions to chemicals in garments since non-organic cotton textiles contain chemical residues.
7. WATER WASTE
One t-shirt made from conventional cotton represents 2700 liters of water.
8. UN-FAIR TRADE
In 2002, US cotton farmers received $3.9 Billion in subsidies. This depressed the global cotton price by 25% lowering the income of 10 million poor cotton farmers in West Africa and Asia. India's once prestigious cotton belt is now referred to as the "suicide belt" due to farmers unable to accept growing debts. Since 2003, the suicide rate has averaged one every eight hours. Many farmers commit suicide by drinking the toxic pesticides.
9. Food
The cottonseed hull, where many pesticide residues have been detected, is a secondary crop sold as a food commodity. It is estimated that as much as 65% of cotton production ends up in our food chain, whether directly through food oil or indirectly through the milk and meat of animal. Studies in Brazil and Nicaragua have shown traces of common cotton pesticides in cow milk, fueling concerns about chemical residues on the cottonseed.
10. GMO
Genetically modified cottonseeds are scientifically designed to yield more fiber and resist pests. Monsanto, a manufacturer of GMO seeds and pesticides, claims that a study showed its Bt cotton yields 30 percent more fiber than non-GMO seeds. A little digging quickly proved that Monsanto was a sponsor of this “scientific” study. In a recent study of 100 cotton farms in India, yields of organic cotton outproduced the genetically modified Bt cotton crop by around 16 percent. Organic and biological farmers predict that insects will also become resistant to Bt cotton over time. The best methods work with nature rather than against it, understanding the natural systems and predators that keep problem pests and pathogens in balance. This is just one of the many truly scientific examples of the weakness of GMOs, along with pest and weed adaptations, plus the tainting of organic seeds. 75% of the cotton grown in the US is GMO.