organic cotton

[andylarksable]

Great job - good to see people paying more attention to this issue. I built a website for an ethical clothing company making much of their clothing from organic cotton - might want to take a look: google mudd and water

[OrganicallyGrwnGroup]

Really nice video. We are happy to see other folks intent on getting the message out on organic cotton. It is an issue that deserves the spotlight. If you're interested, please check out our video Why Organic Cotton? Thank you for your time.

[padmini72]

Why Organic cotton ?

[vegfriedrice]

@padmini72

you can see a good explanation in japanese here

youtube.com/watch?v=quOLp87psD­E&feature=player_embedded

[syccbe]

good to know about organic cotton. we have started selling indian organic cotton

[xEndLessSorrow]

cool i feel good wearing organic shirts

[nocotton]

what is the realistic average yield per acre of this organic cotton you speak of & how much less does it cost to purchase (lower input cost=lower purchase price?)this product versus conventional?

[vegfriedrice]

Rain fed areas often yield 1/2 bale and acre

irrigated regions like California yield 3 bales an acre or more it depends if this area is rain fed or irrrigated.

Chemical inputs will be less costly of course

if the region used chemicals

Some areas of India use chemicals and others do not (I believe 50% of Indian cotton is grown without chemicals anyway)

so depending on the fields, there may be a reduction in chemical costs or none (if none were used to begin with)

[vegfriedrice]

In US, reductions in chemical input costs are offset by increased labor costs for weeding ands extra harvesting required for organic

In India, labor is much cheaper and I don;t have a sense of the costs

thanks to Lynda Grose

[jm20110]

nice

[racheblue]

Gorgeous animation & music. What is the soundtrack?

[vegfriedrice]

thanks!

the music and sound is by matt wand from stock hausen and walkman.

simplesampling (dot) com

[srirampothiraj]

what is the qty of pesticides used per hectare of cotton cultivation. what is the qty used for other produce. how much of organic cotton is produced in the world and what would be ratio of organic cotton to normal cotton

[vegfriedrice]

It is difficult to gather precise figures for overall pesticide use as it varies enormously around the world, the US is the only place where accurate data are available on pesticide use for each state and each crop. However, there are more definite figures for the percentage of insecticides (as opposed to 'pesticides', which is a generic term covering insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc) used on cotton.

[vegfriedrice]

About 28% of insecticide use by volume goes on cotton (though of course this is highly variable from region to region). In contrast, only 2.5% of agricultural land is used for cotton, so we are talking very intensive insecticide use. Many of the insecticides in common use on cotton are 'hazardous' according to the World Health Organisation, some are carcinogenic, or endocrine disrupters, and a third of them have been banned in the EU.

[vegfriedrice]

Much of the cotton produced outside the EU using these banned substances are sold within the EU, leaving little incentive for third world farmers to curtail their use.

Roughly 58,000 metric tons of organic cotton were produced in 2006/7. This is about 0.2% of world cotton production, but for the last few years, organic production has increased by about 50% every year.

thanks to Ruth from Pesticide Action Network

[spoiltchild]

Lovely