This interview first appeared in Natural Fibres Insight
NORTH CAROLINA – Dr Jesse Daystar, vice president and chief sustainability at Cotton Incorporated, is one of the most respected names globally in the arena of cotton and cellulosic fibre research. He has led research and consulting in product sustainability, biomaterials, biochemicals, and bioenergy. His research has produced numerous publications, sustainability and chemical and engineering tools, and certifications for clients including the USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Natural Fibres Insight caught up with him to talk about cotton as a sustainable fibre, countering misinformation and the use of LCAs to measure sustainability, among other issues.
Natural Fibres Insight: What do you see as the key industry trends and issues in cotton production the present time?
Jesse Daystar: Regenerative agriculture will be key to improving sustainability in cotton production and we’re encouraged to see the continued adoption of no-till farming, cover cropping, crop rotation, and integrated pest management (IPM). Regenerative agriculture is unique in that it stresses not only reducing the impact of cotton production, but also improving the environment where cotton is grown. This is somewhat unique to cotton in that the actual product a person buys could have helped improve the soil it was originally grown in.
However, for many farmers, the transition to regenerative or more sustainable practices can pose a significant financial hurdle, impeding their ability to implement these methodologies. The upfront investment required in infrastructure, training, and technology often presents a formidable barrier.
To address this challenge, Cotton Incorporated collaborates closely with leading agricultural universities, offering financial support, technical guidance, and essential supplies to researchers dedicated to making these technologies more accessible to small farmers. One such project is the U.S. Climate Smart Cotton Program is a 5-year, collaborative pilot to provide technical and financial assistance to 1,650 US cotton farmers, including historically underserved cotton producers to advance adoption of climate smart conservation practices on 1.2 million acres.
Natural Fibres Insight: There is a continued debate about whether cotton is a sustainable fibre and cotton still receives bad press in some quarters. How would you make the sustainability case for cotton?
Jesse Daystar: Cotton is a versatile fibre that helps meet the needs of a growing global population. As a plant, a fibre or a textile, cotton is naturally circular. It can be used in many ways, repurposed or reused and it biodegrades naturally in tested water and land environments. These characteristics set cotton far apart from synthetic fibres, particularly those made from petrochemicals such as polyester which shed microplastics into the environment, adding to the significant and growing problem of plastic pollution in the world’s ecosystems.
In the last half a century, the cotton industry has advanced the science of growing and processing cotton and manufacturing cotton products. New technologies, techniques and tools have unlocked efficiencies and reduced environmental impacts.
Natural Fibres Insight: For a period, there was a lot of misinformation flying around about cotton in terms of exaggerated figures on its water use, for instance. How successful do you think organisations such as Cotton Incorporated and (as an example) the Transformers Foundation have been at counteracting this?
Jesse Daystar: The cotton industry has faced persistent challenges in dispelling misinformation, particularly concerning its water usage. It is imperative that all stakeholders, including growers, policymakers, brands, retailers, industry journalists, and consumers, understand the source of information shared and where to access accurate information to facilitate meaningful progress toward sustainability.
Cotton, like all plants, needs water to grow. But did you know that most US cotton is produced using only natural rainfall? With just one acre-inch of rain, modern cotton varieties tend to yield at least 50 pounds of lint and 75 pounds of seed – enough to make more than 170 t-shirts and feed more than 10 cows.
The Transformers Foundation has made significant strides in debunking enduring myths surrounding cotton production by leveraging verified data. Furthermore, organisations like the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) provide valuable yearly statistics through publications their Cotton Data Handbook. Despite these efforts, incorrect information about cotton production continues to proliferate online.
Natural Fibres Insight: What kind of environmental progress have U.S. cotton farmers made since the turn of the century in terms of reduced water use and other sustainability metrics?
Jesse Daystar: Cotton agriculture around the world has evolved dramatically over the years. In the U.S. in particular, the commitment to innovation and continuous improvement has led to significant reductions in the water, land and energy needed to produce cotton, and decreased soil loss and greenhouse gas emissions – all while increasing crop yields.
Documented evidence spanning the past four decades highlights significant achievements by U.S. cotton growers, including a remarkable 58 per cent reduction in water usage, a 30.6 per cent decrease in energy consumption, and a substantial 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. These advancements underscore the industry’s proactive efforts to enhance sustainability practices and promote environmental stewardship in cotton production.
Natural Fibres Insight: Also, on the above, do you expect to see further progress being made? Or has much of the low hanging fruit in terms of gains now been taken?
Jesse Daystar: The US cotton industry has established a set of goals to achieve within the ten years between 2015 and 2025 to further improve cotton sustainability and lead the world in responsible cotton production. These goals include increasing soil carbon by 30 per cent, increasing land use efficiency by 13 per cent, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 39 per cent, decreasing soil loss per acre by 50 per cent, decreasing water use by 18 per cent, and decreasing energy use by 15 per cent.
The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol was initiated in 2020 to substantiate and validate U.S. cotton’s sustainability progress. As noted in the programme’s third annual report, we are still seeing progress made. For example, the 2025 National Goal aims to achieve a substantial 39 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the 2015 Trust Protocol baseline. In the context of the 2022/23 Trust Protocol aggregate data, greenhouse gas emissions per pound of fibre for Trust Protocol growers stood at 1.9 CO2e. Relative to the representative group from 2015, Trust Protocol growers in the 2022/23 cotton growing season reduced GHG Emissions by 21 per cent, marking a significant step towards the overarching 2025 National Goal.
Natural Fibres Insight: Where do you stand on Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in terms of cotton and sustainability? Do they still have a role to play?
Jesse Daystar: LCAs continue to play a crucial role in evaluating the environmental footprint of cotton production. LCAs provide valuable insights into resource use, emissions, and impacts throughout the entire lifecycle of cotton products, guiding decision-making and driving continuous improvement in sustainability practices. That being said, reading an LCA is like looking through a keyhole: you can see important information, however, it is only a piece of the information you need to make decisions surrounding sustainability. Social aspects, economics, and lack of certain indicators like microplastic impact are important to consider and currently fall outside the scope of most LCAs.
Cotton Incorporated developed a first-of-its-kind Global Cotton Life Cycle Assessment in 2010, and last updated in 2016. We continue to be pioneers in LCA both in agriculture and in the apparel industry. We continue that leadership today with several active LCAs examining U.S. cotton production, cottonseed as animal feed, and working with researchers to develop LCA metrics to quantify the environmental impacts of microplastics.
Natural Fibres Insight: Would you like to see more independent LCAs for cotton production?
Jesse Daystar: While having data on how cotton impacts the environment is crucial, that data itself doesn’t drive improvement. It is important that we measure and track improvements, but simply increasing measurements won’t necessarily help. What will help is supporting growers at the farm level in adopting new conservation practices. It’s only when improvements are implemented on the farm that they manifest in the data.
Speaking of data, LCAs are great for some purposes, but they are costly, rely on numerous assumptions and contain much uncertainty. Often, data and metrics closer to the on-farm intervention can be more descriptive of the progress made in stationarity and have much less uncertainty. While there is a place for more LCAs and updating old ones, the industry would be well served to put investments in LCAs in context of investments made on the farm to share the risk of adopting new conservation practices like cover crops.
About Cotton Incorporated
Cotton Incorporated is a not-for-profit research and promotion organisation that was founded in 1970 to support the global cotton industry. It is funded by cotton growers and importers, to increase the demand and profitability of cotton through research and promotion