Organic Cotton Mostly Remains A Third-World Enterprise

Organic cotton production remains a mostly small-scale enterprise carried out in countries with an abundance of cheap labor.

That’s the take-home from a press release issued this week by the Textile Exchange, formerly known as the Organic Exchange. The report was based on 2009-2010 production.

According to the release, global organic cotton production amounted to 1.1 million bales produced by 274,000 farmers. That works out to just over 4 bales per farmer. Most of the 22 countries covered in the organic cotton report were decidedly Third World and developing nations.

The United States placed fifth in terms of the amount of organic cotton produced, just behind China at fourth. India ranked first for the third year, followed by Syria and Turkey.

The release noted that worldwide organic cotton production has grown significantly in the last five years. But it still accounts for only about 1.1% of global production.

The release did not indicate the average yield per acre or hectare.

Here's a more detailed report.