Threaded Together: How the US Climate Smart Cotton program is helping to reduce the carbon footprint of textiles

Dec 7, 2023

To coincide with the week of World Soil Day 2023, our third and final episode of our Threaded Together: cotton and sustainability podcast series, sponsored by Cotton Incorporated, looks at the US Climate Smart Cotton Program- a bold, new and exciting initiative in the US, which aims to measure and improve the country’s cottons’ carbon footprint.

We look at what it is, how it works, who can take part, why it's needed, who benefits from it and why it's of interest to the whole value chain in the textile industry.

To answer these questions, host Philip Berman is joined by:

Daren Abney, the Executive Director of the US Cotton Trust Protocol, which leads on the programme.

Dr Cristine Morgan, Chief Scientific Officer at the Soil Health Institute, which is partner on the programme.

Dr Jesse Daystar, Chief Sustainability Officer at Cotton Incorporated, which is partner on the programme.

Daren Abney tells listeners: "I think this opportunity really came about because the US government is seeing agriculture at scale as an opportunity to address climate challenges."

Soil health expert Dr Morgan explains later in the podcast: "The main thing that we want to do is improve the soil. We want to get carbon out of the atmosphere and we also want to release fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."

Here are the factsheets recently released by Dr Morgan that she says demonstrate how soil health management systems are making cotton growers more profitable.

• -Factsheet: Economics of Soil Health Management Systems on Eight Cotton Farms in Georgia
• Factsheet: Economics of Soil Health Systems on Eight Cotton Farms in the Texas Southern Great Plains  
• Webinar: Economics of Soil Health Systems on Eight Cotton Farms in the Texas Southern Great Plains  

Other partners in the programme include, Cotton Council International, Agricenter International, North Carolina A&T State University, Alabama A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

Cotton Incorporated is a US-based, not-for-profit company, that provides resources and research to help companies develop and market innovative and profitable cotton products.

Cick here for Episode One of Threaded Together: Cotton and Sustainability

and

Click here for Episode Two of Threaded Together: How best to measure cotton's environmental impact. 

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