Pre-competitive collaboration in the sustainability space is essential to overcoming cotton’s challenges, and the global cotton industry is leading the way.
Earlier this year Jesse Daystar from Cotton Incorporated in the U.S attended Camp Cotton here in Australia, and last month Cotton Australia was invited to attend the U.S Trust Protocol (USTP) farm and gin tour that took place ahead of the Textile Exchange Conference in California.
These learning exchanges have been invaluable in understanding the various approaches to sustainability across geographies, and have resulted in numerous collaborative efforts between the cotton sustainability programs.
The team at USTP used the opportunity to showcase the sustainability credentials of U.S cotton to about 50 brands and retailers, by touring a farm and gin and educating delegates on what the program is achieving on the ground, and for its customers.
According to Cotton Australia’s Brooke Summers, the tour was a fantastic opportunity to engage with farmers, discuss common challenges and look for opportunities to collaborate.
“I’d never been to a U.S cotton farm before, and while there were many similarities there were also lots of differences. U.S cotton farmers are fortunate to have the support of their government through a $90 million climate grant that’s helping them move to more sustainable practices such as cover cropping, but there are also issues with rising production costs and competition from other crops.
“Context is so important, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ sustainability solution that works in every country. It was great to see the cotton harvest, and on-farm sustainability practices and to see the science and innovation that sits behind the industry.
“We’re looking forward to further collaboration with the U.S industry and while in one respect we are competitors, our shared competition is synthetic fibres. There are many ways we can work together to promote natural fibres and drive the uptake of sustainable cotton by the supply chain,” she said.