The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the launch of the Great American Cotton Plan, which seeks to strengthen the domestic cotton farm economy through measures such as increasing demand for American-grown cotton products, in a May 28 statement.
“The announcement comes as cotton producers face a fifth consecutive year of negative returns driven by rising input costs, trade distortions, and increasing competition from synthetic materials,” USDA said. “As part of the plan, USDA will elevate the ‘Plant Not Plastic’ initiative to encourage consumers to purchase products made with healthy natural American cotton fibers rather than synthetic plastic-based alternatives.”
“Since 1980, the number of U.S. cotton gins has declined from 2,254 to 446, while domestic textile production facilities have sharply contracted over the last two decades. At the same time, nearly 70 percent of the world’s textile fibers are now synthetic, most of them plastic-based materials such as polyester.” A cotton gin is a machine used to separate cotton fibers from seeds….