The US has introduced a new integrated data collection, measurement, and verification procedure for the cotton industry. Its objective is to document US cotton production practices and their environmental impact. The data will benchmark farmer gains towards the industry’s sustainability goals of 2025 as well as provide the global textile supply chain additional assurances that the cotton is produced in a responsible manner.

A pilot program will be fully implemented for the 2020 cotton crop year. Practising growers will have to adopt data tools that allow quantitative measurement of sustainability metrics like FieldPrint Platform, a pioneering assessment framework along with a self-assessment checklist.

US cotton is already among the most sustainably produced in the world. Though US cotton growers continue to embrace new technologies and management techniques that reduce impact and increase yield, the trust protocol is meant to address that need with a tangible and transparent snapshot of US cotton growing practices and the gains resulting from them. For the next decade and beyond, US cotton producers and industry organizations are setting new environmental targets to keep pushing the frontier of sustainability and leading the worldwide effort in responsible cotton production. Target areas and goals are established using science-based evaluations, including key performance indicators for producing each pound of cotton and pathways to achieve them.