By Jim Steadman, Editor, Cotton Grower
In today’s cotton industry, sustainability seems to be just as much a part of the conversation as planting, harvesting, and prices. With increasing interest — and often, demand — from consumers who want to know where the cotton in their clothing or household items is coming from, a truly transparent supply chain is a necessity. It is now, in fact, a part of doing business — from the field and gin to the mills to the manufacturers to the retailers and, ultimately, to the consumer.
Over the past decade, the cotton industry has been blessed with multiple sustainability programs to help build varying levels of transparency. Some are managed by organizations, some by retailers and clothing manufacturers, some by marketers and merchants, and some by companies within the industry. Each one has its place in the market, and cotton growers often participate in multiple, yet similar, programs.
There was a need in the industry for a program that represented U.S. cotton production, and the Protocol was able to take what cotton producers had already been doing and put that information together through data or a traceability solution and make it available to end users to provide that validation and verification
In 2020, the National Cotton Council launched the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol (USCTP) to help develop and set a new standard for sustainability for the U.S. cotton industry.
“There was a need in the industry for a program that represented U.S. cotton production, and the Protocol was able to take what cotton producers had already been doing and put that information together through data or a traceability solution and make it available to end users to provide that validation and verification of what our producers are already doing,” says Tillman White, Program Manager for USCTP Field Operations.
“Since 2020, we’ve seen a large increase in membership from growers all the way to the brand level,” he adds. “This past year, we had a 25% increase in acres entered into the Protocol. We had over 975 producers that enrolled, and we were able to capture data from them. This year, we have just over 2,000 mill/manufacturer members and about 30 approved brands and retailers — plus merchandizers and gins — working in the Protocol system.”
In essence, USCTP provides a sustainability umbrella that can operate on its own and/or in conjunction with other programs.
For the first several years of operation, USCTP focused on building membership among growers, mills/manufacturers, and retailers. In May 2023, USTCP received a $90 million Climate Smart Agriculture grant from USDA to develop and implement the Climate Smart Cotton program — a natural next step to help improve the carbon footprint of the U.S. cotton industry.
Program partners include Cotton Council International, Cotton Incorporated, the Soil Health Institute, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, North Carolina State University, Agricenter International, Alabama A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, veteran farmers, and the Soil and Water Outcome Fund.
The USCTP is lead partner in The Climate Smart Cotton program, a five-year initiative that presents an opportunity for U.S. cotton growers to enhance their profitability, operations, and environmental stewardship. For brands and retailers, the program will help support efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and allow reporting against Scope 3 emissions reductions for cotton used in products.
Producers who have completed enrollment in USCTP, which includes data entry and bale uploads, are eligible to apply for the Climate Smart Cotton Program.
The program was built around the four pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices that support planting cover crops, reduced tillage, and nutrient management and help allow for improved soil health, increased drought and flood resilience, advanced nutrient use efficiency, decreased soil erosion, and reduced GHG emissions.
“After receiving the CSA funding from USDA in May 2023, we were able to start rolling out the Climate Smart Cotton program within a month,” says White.
“The overarching goal of the program is to provide financial assistance to U.S. cotton farmers through three different levels,” he explains. “It helps provide different tools and knowledge for adopting new Climate Smart practices in their farming operation such as cover crops, nutrient management plans, or even no-till systems. There’s also an opportunity to participate in the carbon market.”
The Climate Smart Cotton program has five primary goals:
Provide technical and financial assistance to U.S. cotton growers
Advance adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture practices on 1.2 million U.S. cotton acres
Produce 4.2 million bales of Climate Smart Cotton during the five-year period
Enroll 1,650 U.S. cotton growers, including 330 farmers from historically underserved communities
Reduce CO2e emissions by 1.14 million metric tons.
White notes that there are three levels to the Climate Smart Cotton program:
Level One: Enroll a farming entity into the USCTP and receive a payment of $5 per acre up to 706 acres for every farm they enroll.
The shared goal of the program is to support farmers in adopting and implementing sustainable practices that benefit both their operations and the environment.
“Enrolling in the Protocol is one of the requirements to participate in the Climate Smart Cotton program,” says White. “Part of that enrollment is having bales uploaded to our system where we can track and mark those permanent bale identifications (PBI) as being a Protocol bale.”
The shared goal of the program is to support farmers in adopting and implementing sustainable practices that benefit both their operations and the environment. For example:
The program offers critical guidance and resources to help growers successfully implement CSA practices that could help reduce input costs, allowing growers to optimize their operations, improve soil health, achieve higher yields, and improve profitability.
Enable opportunity to create and sell carbon insets to brands and retailers who are members of the Trust Protocol.
Increase resilience to drought and floods, enabling them to navigate climate conditions more effectively.
Utilize CSA practices to help decrease soil erosion, preserve soil quality, and prevent sediment runoff into water bodies.
Adopting advanced nutrient management practices promoted by the program can help enhance nutrient use efficiency, optimizing fertilizer inputs and minimizing environmental impacts.
Level Two: Adopt use of cover crops and other CSA practices for three consecutive years and receive funding at $25 per acre.
One of the benefits of Climate Smart Cotton for the brands is the opportunity to purchase the carbon insets within their supply chain from farmers who also supply their fiber.
Level Three: Measure the carbon sequestration from the practice adopted in Level Two and find a buyer for the carbon insets generated. Improving cotton’s carbon footprint is a key focus area over the next several years. U.S. cotton farmers and brands and retailers play a vital role in helping achieve this program goal.
The program also aims to reduce CO2e emissions by 1.14 million metric tons by promoting adoption of practices that decrease GHG emissions, stores more carbon and water in the soil, and improves soil and ecosystem function to help create a more sustainable cotton industry and a healthier environment.
“One of the benefits of Climate Smart Cotton for the brands is the opportunity to purchase the carbon insets within their supply chain from farmers who also supply their fiber,” says White. “Then, working with the program under the umbrella of the Protocol, brands have the ability to look at country of origin and know that the fiber they’re sourcing is from actual Protocol growers in the U.S.”
The opportunity to purchase verified insets from growers participating as the Climate Smart Cotton program matures can be used against Scope 3 emissions reductions for cotton used in products.
Enrollment for 2024 in the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol and Climate Smart Cotton program began in January and closes at the end of April.
