OFC Cotton Guide-2020 JM2 Layout 1 03/03/2020 14:58 Page 1 ... · The Inside Guide to COTTON & SUSTAINABILITY 5 COTTON STANDARDS Moral fibre: the journey to sustainable cotton.....66

The Inside Guide to

COTTON &SUSTAINABILITYSecond Edition By Simon Ferrigno

Supported by:

UPDATED

OFC Cotton Guide-2020_JM2_Layout 1 03/03/2020 14:58 Page 1

4 The Inside Guide to COTTON & SUSTAINABILITY

� Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................................................................................1� About this Guide ......................................................................................................................................................................................2� Author Introduction..............................................................................................................................................................................3� Introduction: Unravelling the threads ............................................................................................................................6

COTTON HISTORY� A brief history of cotton ....................................................................................................................................................9 – 14

Trade in cotton is as old as recorded history where it’s been a showcase for humanity ingenuity – and repression.

COTTON TRADE� Growing cotton: places, people and economies ................................................................................15 – 29

Facts about where cotton is grown, irrigation, yields, volumes, pests and how it’s traded on the market.

COTTON PRODUCTION DATA� Cotton production ..................................................................................................................................................................30 – 38

Charting cotton’s market share, prices and subsidies, trends in insecticide use and avergae lint costs.

BAD REPUTATION? � Cotton and modernisation ............................................................................................................................................40 – 65

Population growth and increasing consumption levels are pushing the planet to its limits. How can cotton respond?

Contents

The Inside Guide to

COTTON &SUSTAINABILITYSecond Edition By Simon Ferrigno

Supported by:

UPDATED

© Alisher PrimkulovShutterstock

The Inside Guide to

COTTON &SUSTAINABILITY

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The Inside Guide to COTTON & SUSTAINABILITY 5

COTTON STANDARDS� Moral fibre: the journey to sustainable cotton ................................................................................66 – 105

Charting the journey to more sustainable cotton production in the Anthropocene – an era of man-made change.

NEW TECHNOLOGY� Fields of conflict ..................................................................................................................................................................106 – 117

The emergence of robotics, big data and artificial intelligence hold promise, but also poses threats for cotton.

MAPPING THE FUTURE� The way forward ................................................................................................................................................................118 – 139

Why transparency is the key missing ingredient to sustainable cotton – and how the industry can get there.

AFTERWORD� Conclusions – shaking off the fetters of the invisible hand ..........................................140 – 143

Cotton should move beyond existing standards based on a small number of criteria to have widepsread impact.

CASE STUDIES� Cotton & microfibres – Cotton unspun ....................................................................................................144 – 145� Cotton and risk – forced labour ......................................................................................................................................146� Organic Cotton Accelerator ..................................................................................................................................................147

REFERENCES� Endnotes........................................................................................................................................................................................148 – 151� Bibliography and references ................................................................................................................................152 – 158� Useful contacts ....................................................................................................................................................................................160

CONTENTS

Printed on FSC® certified paper.

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Unravelling the threadsimpacts are assessed. What farmers needmay be in conflict with what a cotton buyerwants. Where does corporate responsibilitylie: with customers or beyond? With 33million in Africa vulnerable to climate crisisand famine, this is an existential question. Ifwe don’t shift to total responsibility by all forall, then we are +2°C toast.In 2010, the genesis for the first edition of

this guide published back in 2012 was apresentation at a RITE Group Conference inLondon. But in this newly revised Guide, weask much bigger questions including whetherexisting standards and schemes are still fit forpurpose – they are, after all, a decades oldresponse in a world that is now fully digital,which makes a more flexible due diligenceapproach possible.Crucially, in another 10 years, the window

for preventing catastrophic climate change willhave closed. Can the cotton industry doenough – do its share – in preventing theinexorable advent of the anthropocene1,where climate change and biosphere integrityare ‘core boundaries’ beyond which there is no

Cotton is a complicated crop with an ancienthistory and a very uncertain future. We nowhave a decade to stop runaway climatechange, and global soil degradation isworsening. Nor does cotton operate inisolation. It sits in an agricultural economyunder multiple pressures: environmental,social, commercial and political. Humankindwill need to be very fleet of foot to stave offserious problems in future.While cotton production is by itself not

circular, it can feed into a circular economythat will still need raw materials but mustbe able to carry on over time whilesustaining a wider ecosystem and theassociated human economy. Cotton production, cotton yields and area

have been remarkably stable in the pastdecade even as some of the most damagingpractices have been reduced. But therecontinues to be competition between sustain-ability initiatives and those making sustain-ability claims for different types of cotton,complicated by use of poor or misleadingdata and a lack of consistency in how


Major cotton growing regions

32˚ South

HirsutumMoche-Barbedense

Herbaceum

Mehrgarh -Arboreum

37˚ North (45˚ in China)

0˚ Equator 0˚ Equator

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energy, resource constraints, cotton researchfunding, sustainability funding, governmentand international regulation, and of coursemany social and economic challenges. In the previous edition of this guide we

simply could not cover these topics, but sincethen, new laws have been introduced,including the Modern Slavery Act in the UK,corporate vigilance in France and child labourdue diligence in Holland. It is a problem fromdistant fields in cotton growing countries tofinishing factories in wealthy countries. But asthe recent side-lining of a UK report onsustainable fashion shows, governmentsremain short term thinkers extraordinaire,perhaps more so than those businesses whoare content to sit and wait to see what othersdo. And we continue to see global averagesand out of date facts being used incampaigning. Global averaging is useless withcotton and means local reality is notaddressed. Each distinct cotton region needsto address its own specific problems. The picture over the past 10 years is not

bleak across the board, however. Pesticideand fertiliser use continues to be below theextreme levels of the past, as evidenced byPAN UK research published in 2017. There are some who would say that cotton

growing is not essential in the way foodproduction is, and cotton should give up its30 million hectares of land. This both ignoresthe cultural value and history of cotton, butalso endorses a notion that we just need togrow more food rather than reduce waste,for example – and just eat whatever someonedecides is a suitable global diet. However,cotton remains woven into human historyand culture – and will continue to do so forthe foreseeable future. �


return if they become too damaged? Cottonproduction can affect both of these, but itcould also mitigate problems if the scale andscope of problem solving is rapid enough. We identified several future challenges in

our first edition of this guide, published backin 2012, and many remain or have grown inimportance. Land is finite, and pressure onland is high. Can new developments inrobotics and digital data along with newgenetic technologies, like gene editing andmore investment in overall research, help?

Water remains a point of attack on cotton,frequently without justification. If cotton useslittle water compared to many crops, and isdrought tolerant, its potential to pollute thewater used for passing through the farmsystem remains high. But the tendency topoint the finger at cotton for its overall wateruse means questions are not asked aboutspecific instances of pollution, or the widedisparity between water use in different areasand regions.There has been talk of precision agriculture,

and climate smart agriculture. However, wehave not locked carbon in soil in measurableways. Soil carbon is not part of carbon creditschemes, and there is little research. Few ifany cotton standards and schemes monitorsoils or soil carbon, and recommendations onsoil management tend to be based onprescription rather than measurement. The cotton trading sector remains

challenging for many producing countriesand farmers. Much else still needs addressing:

1 http://anthropocene.info/

INTRODUCTION

What farmers need may be in conflict with what buyers’ want

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COTTON VOLUMES

Cotton’s vital statistics

Cotton area33.08 million hectares (estimated) in2017/18

2015/16: 30.6 million hectares2008/09: 29.99 million hectares

Cotton area

2.1% of global arable land. Cotton area is relatively stablecompared to other major arable crops,all of which are increasing in areaexcept maize.

Wheat: 215 million hectares (up from 200m)Rice 154 – 160 million hectares (up from 150m)and maize: 140 million hectares (down 10m) Soy beans: 124 million hectares (up from 90m)

Producing countries 80

Including USA, China, India, Pakistan, Brazil,Australia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Argentina, Mexico,Colombia, Paraguay, Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal,Ivory Coast, Kenya, South Africa, Uzbekistan,Kyrgyzstan, Greece, Syria etc.

People 26 million farming households i(some talk of around 100 million)

200 to 250 million livelihoods depend on cottonand associated industries and services for lintproduction (excluding textiles, inputs andmachinery manufacture)

Global value of cotton lintproduction and trade

US$52.19 billion (2017/18)US$37 billion (2009/10) For 22 million tonnes in 2009/10

Percentage of globalpesticides sales destinedfor cotton

5.7% (2017) 6.2% (2009)

Percentage of insecticidessales destined for cotton 16.1% (2017) 14.1% (2009)

Percentage of agriculturalwater used on cotton 2 – 3% -

Cotton share of globalfibres market 27% (2018) 33.5% (2010)

Average yield (kg/ lint/hectare) 2018/19: 792 (pro.)

2007/08: 7972008/09: 7672009/10: 7262010/11: 7592015/16: 700

Annual cottonexports/trade 8.1 million tonnes (2016/17) Previously 8 million tonnes

Biggest exporter USA: 3.2 million tonnes Up from 2.5 million

Imports 8 million tonnes Around 1/3 of global annual production

Biggest importer Bangladesh 1.4 million tonnes Previously China: 3.4 million tonnes

Additional costs of cottonper tonne if negativeexternalities included

US $7,266Greenhouse gases, supply chain water, nitratepollution, irrigation water

Percentage of cotton that islong and extra long staple 1.8% down from 3% previously USA, Egypt, India, China

Sources: ICAC 2009, 2010, 2011, McKinsey, UNCTAD, FAO, IRRI, Bremen Cotton Exchange

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lint (the fibre that leaves the gin for thespinning mill). The costs of seed cottoninclude fertilisation and soil fertilitymanagement, inputs costs (pesticides,fertilisers), labour, seed, energy and irrigation(where used). In 2010, the ICAC reported anaverage cost of production for seed cottonof US$0.40, which they estimated gave a

cost for lint including CIF (cost, insurance,freight) of US$50-60 per pound.v

The costs of production are rising for twomain reasons, the rising costs of some inputsand the fact that productivity increases incotton seem to have reached a ‘plateau’,with yields peaking at 797 kg/ha of lint in2007/08. Average yield in 2009/10 was 726


Trends in insecticide use since the 1990s

Cotton prices since the 1970s in US$/Pound

Source: Cotlook A Index prices

Source: PAN UK

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MyBMP is benchmarked with BCI.22

MyBMP is centred on online systemslinking growers to information and toolswith a view to reducing pesticide use, usingwater more efficiently and improving soilhealth. Audits highlight improvementsfarmers can make, and whether they meetlegal obligations and match industry bestpractice. The auditing process is in three

stages, from checking self-assessment tochecking progress (after 14 months) andfinally verifying continuous improvement(after another 18 months). There are arranged and random audits.

Cotton crops areas (Australia) ('000 ha)

Core areas of MyBMP – AustraliaArea Detail # Checklist items

Biosecurity Pest and disease management 10

Energy and input efficiency Electricity, fuel and fertilisers 18

Fibre quality Ensuring high quality cotton 14

Human Resources and WorkHealth and Safety

Management and providing a workplace bothsafe and in compliance with obligations 50

Integrated Pest anagement (IPM) Management of pests, weeds and diseases 30

Sustainable Natural Landscape (Natural Assets) Managing vegetative and riparian areas on farm 80

Pesticide Management Pesticide management, storage and use 75

Petrochemical Storage and Handling Fuel, etc. 32

Soil Health Soil management 28

Water Management Managing water, water storage, and distribution 67

Source: Cotton Australia, 2014 and MyBMP Factsheet and 2019: Background Paper on Australian Cotton

22 http://cottonaustralia.com.au/uploads/resources/Cotton_Australia_advocacy_wins_040314.pdf

23 The Australian Cotton Water Story 2011http://www.cottoncrc.org.au/industry/Publications/Water

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reports suggest that the extinction rate hasincreased 1,000 fold since the industrialrevolution, with agriculture accounting for70 per cent of projected losses in terrestrialbiodiversity, according to the latest SSIBiodiversity policy brief published in 2017.

SoilsBiodiversity in soils, and soil degradation areaccelerating at alarming levels. Good soilsprovide the nutrients for good plant growth,and a strong plant will be more resistant topests as well as to climatic stress. Good soilsretain more moisture and require less waterunder irrigation. However, to date 24 percent of the 11.5 billion hectares ofvegetated land worldwide has ‘undergonehuman induced soil degradation’, mostlyfrom erosion, with 12 per cent of crop landlost to farming. lxxxix xc

Good soils are also carbon sinks and canlock up tonnes of CO2 and otherGreenhouse gases. The trading of soil

carbon and greenhouse gas credits could infuture be a good source of income forfarmers, and would help to makesustainable cotton more competitive,especially if on the reverse poor practiceshad to pay carbon taxes.xci

But good soil and water management iscostly. There exist many ways of reducingdegradation and improving soil fertility. Forexample, the use of bunds, contours, barrierplants and crops, agro-forestry, mulch andcover crops can do much to reduce erosionand soil degradation by reducing thedamage caused by excess water and run-off,improving moisture retention and reducingwind erosion.xcii xciii

The 2015 Soil Atlas (Facts and figures aboutearth, land and fields 2015, published byHeinrich Boll Foundation and the Institute forAdvanced Sustainability Studies) records 300million hectares of high clay soils in the tropicswhich are under cotton and grazing where‘cropping is only possible under strict water

Quantity of irrigation water per hectare per seasonTotal water use in irrigated cotton (mm) Countries

30-60 China, Israel and Turkey (Adana)

80-140 Argentina (Chaco), Brazil (Cerrado), Bulgaria and Kazakhstan

240-300 Pakistan (Punjab), South Africa (Loskpop), Spain (Andalucia) and Turkey (Aegean)

300-500 Argentina (De Reigo), Colombia (Interior), Egypt and India (Orissa)

650-800 Australia, India (Central and South), Kyrgyzstan (organic) and Myanmar

800-1,223 Sudan and Turkey (Sanliurfa)

COTTON AND MODERNISATION

�

24 per cent of vegetated land worldwide has undergone human induced soil degradation.

Source ICAC 2017 Crop Production Practices, report bythe technical information section

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control.’ But often the degradation is in thefootprint of consuming nations: Six of the top10 ‘land-importing’ countries are in Europe:Germany, UK (these two countries need some80 million hectares a year each), Italy, France,Netherlands and Spain; this means thesecountries need land to sustain themselvesoutside their own borders (far more in thecase of the UK than its own land area).

However, cotton is salt and droughttolerant, which has benefits and allows it togrow where other crops fail, but it has longbeen thought of as a soil miner, i.e., asdepleting critical resources.

Soil is a living, dynamic ecosystem ...converting dead and decaying matter as wellas minerals to plant nutrients...; controllingplant disease, insect and weed pests;improving soil structure with positive effectsfor soil water and nutrient holding capacity,and ultimately improving crop production. Ahealthy soil also contributes to mitigatingclimate change by maintaining or increasingits carbon content. Thus, any businessconcerned with textiles and a long termbusiness strategy needs to be actively seekingfibres from well managed soils, becausemaking soil takes hundreds to thousands ofyears to form one centimetre of soil fromparent rock, but that centimetre of soil canbe lost in a single year through erosion.

Business as usual means ‘50,000 squarekilometres of soil, an area the size of CostaRica, is lost each year’, according to theGlobal Soil Partnership.15 We have perhapsalready reached peak soil, with 25 per cent ofagricultural land already seriously degraded.

European Union supported work (‘Soil:how much do we value this criticalresource? Highlights from recent JRCresearch’) on soil loss estimates thatbetween 2001 and 2012, 35 billion tonnes

of soil have been eroded. The report says:“some 7.5 million km2 erosion exceeds thegeneric tolerable soil erosion threshold.” Theworst erosion is found in China, Brazil andequatorial Africa, with the most rapidincreases in soil loss in sub-Saharan Africa,South America and South-east Asia. InSouth America, conversion of land forcropping is the main driver of soil loss.Conservation agriculture practices only cover15 per cent of cropland globally at present.The UN FAO reports that: “an annual loss of75 billion tons of soil from arable land isestimated to cost about USD 400 billioneach year in lost agricultural production.”xciv

Related to soils, desertification remains amassive problem. The latest World Atlas ofDesertification, produced by the EuropeanCommission (Office of the European Union,Luxembourg, 2018) says “if lost todegradation, previously productive soilscannot be reclaimed in human timescales.”xcv

The report also points out that apparent increases in available surface water are temporary, reflecting the loss ofglaciers and ice to climate change:“groundwater depletion threatens sustainedagriculture production systems in bothdeveloped (e.g. California) and emerging(e.g. India) economies.”

Seed research‘’Public investments in agronomic and seedbreeding research and extension serviceshave been important sources of farmproductivity growth all over the world’(Tschirley and Kabwe 2007).

Recent years have seen a big shift frompublic to private investment in agriculturalresearch despite the good track record and


15 http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/en/

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Mapping the futureWater and pesticide use are often cited asthe most significant environmental impactsof cotton production and while thepesticides issue may be less of a widespreadconcern nowadays compared with twentyyears ago, responsible water use remainshigh on the agenda.

While environmental challenges are alwaysvariable dependent on local agriculturalcontext, and the misuse of pesticides in cottonproduction still remains a problem in someregions, perhaps the key missing ingredient inmoving forwards is traceability – not just for‘sustainable’ cotton, but for all cotton.

The industry needs to know exactly whereits cotton comes from, where it goes andwhat impacts it has, especially if we are tomonitor and ‘price in’ negative impacts andreward good behaviour. Ideally, we need this

in real time, including impact data. Data tohelp decide if cotton is good to go in thesupply chain and data to decide what kindof price or tax (cut or extra) might go on it.

And in addition to environmental issues, a2016 benchmarking exercise by ‘Know theChain’ did give apparel and footwear a verypoor score for transparency when it came tobrands addressing forced labour risks withintheir global supply chains.i

Competition and the use of multiple andoften incompatible systems makes lifedifficult, especially where brands usemultiple cotton and sustainable cottonsources. Of course, locking people into aunique system also might lock them into asingle source of sustainable cotton.

But brands need to be able to correlateand compare to improve their footprints.

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Fields of conflictA detailed look at new and old biologicaltechniques such as GM and gene editing,but also mechanical interventions such asrobotics and information technologies likethe use of so-called ‘big data’ – which holdspromise but also poses threats. This relatesto the tensions these ‘solutions’ often leadto between large and small cotton farmers.Biotechnology is a broad term

encompassing traditional plant research andbreeding (including hybridisation) as well asapproaches based on modification throughrecombinant DNA (DNA in new sequences)and now gene editing. There are of coursedifferences not only in the techniques buthow they are perceived as well as how theywork in the field.

Genetic engineering (n), gene-splicing,recombinant DNA technology: thetechnology of preparing recombinant DNAin vitro by cutting up DNA molecules andsplicing together fragments from more thanone organism.i

Genetic engineering refers specifically tothe processes involved in gene splicing orrecombinant DNA, which allow theintroduction of new DNA to organisms.

These can then produce new proteins, andso new traits can be incorporated, orexisting traits strengthened. It is this areathat causes controversy and led to thehighly emotive and misleading term‘Frankenfoods’ in the 1990s.ii iii

Biotechnology has its origins in 1953 withthe discovery by Watson and Crick of thestructure of DNA, the double helix. Thediscovery that genes are arranged insequences of four chemical bases indifferent permutations or genetic codes, analphabet of four letters is at the root ofbiotech and indeed many advances inmedicine, such as the production of insulin.iv

Base pairs can be spliced to another pieceof DNA – this is the process whichsupporters of biotech claim to be similar butmore precise than what conventional cottonbreeders do, while opponents do not acceptthis, pointing out that DNA from unrelatedspecies can be used in this way. Thesecombinations or re-combinations give us theterm recombinant DNA. Herbicide tolerance and insect resistance

are the main cotton traits, often combined today.

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OFC Cotton Guide-2020 JM2 Layout 1 03/03/2020 14:58 Page 1 ... · The Inside Guide to COTTON & SUSTAINABILITY 5 COTTON STANDARDS Moral fibre: the journey to sustainable cotton.....66