MTECHTIPS

MTECHTIPS:-Cotton cultivation becoming more sustainable: Cotton Inc

The LCA (life-cycle assessment) was one of the major focus of first Open Session of International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC’s) 71st Plenary Meeting, which took place on October 8 in Interlaken, Switzerland.The new results in the session stated that the cotton has made great strides over the last 30 years, including reductions in: Land usage: 30%, Soil loss: 68%, Water usage: 75%, Energy usage: 36%, Greenhouse gases: 30%A presentation by Berrye Worsham, CEO of Cotton Incorporated outlined how the LCA was developed, as well as some of its top findings.Worsham emphasized that Cotton Incorporated's leadership went through the exhaustive, two-year LCA process to determine exactly what cotton's footprint was, not just what could be used to combat misconceptions about the fiber's environmental impact."Cotton is doing well, but we know we can do better," he said. "The key is continual progress. This LCA was all about measurement and improvement, and you can't make measurable progress if you don't know where you started," added Worsham.The final message of the first session was, those who attack the cotton industry for its perceived impact on the environment will need to have their facts straight, thanks to a major research