By Amy Mayer
Agri-Pulse
The Agriculture Department, along with major agribusiness firms and foundations, are joining with U.S. cotton growers in a series of efforts aimed at filling a growing global demand for textiles that can be produced with a much smaller environmental footprint.
The U.C. Cotton Trust Protocol is the lead partner in a project that was awarded $90 million as part of USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program. The goal is to implement climate-smart practices on more than 1 million acres of cotton and ultimately to the production of “millions of bales of Climate-Smart cotton over five years.” In its June acreage report, USDA estimated 2022-23 U.S. cotton plantings at 12.48 million acres, up 11.3% from 2021.