Cotton, Gossypium

White clouds from the field

As a plant, cotton belongs to the mallow family (Malvaceae) and comprises 51 species. Cotton plants usually grow in the fields as annual herbaceous plants or shrubs with deciduous leaves. They produce pretty white, pink or yellow flowers, from which the cotton bolls (the round, fluffy clumps on the plant in which cotton grows) later develop. These bolls contain the very hairy cotton seeds, which also contain the poison gossypol. As soon as the boll is ripe, it bursts open and the hair fibers of the cotton seeds become visible as dense white absorbent cotton. In nature, the absorbent cotton helps the cotton seed to fly far with the air. The absorbent cotton can also store a lot of rainwater and thus helps the seed to germinate.

White wool with a dark history

The special thing about cotton is that it was domesticated thousands of years ago in four places in the world completely independently of each other: In Central America (Gossypium hirsutum), in South America (Gossypium barbadense), in Asia (Gossypium arboreum) and in Africa (Gossypium herbaceum). In all these places, people realised that a plant fibre for textiles could be obtained from the seed hairs of cotton. In Mehrgarh, the oldest Neolithic settlement in the Indus Valley in India, evidence of cotton fibers dating back to around 6000 BC was found, and in the Andes of South America there is evidence of the first cotton textiles, which must have been produced around 3000 BC. The art of textile production in this region is older than the establishment of ceramics or the cultivation of maize.

Cotton reached Europe in the Middle Ages via the Silk Road and other trade routes. Here, however, it was a luxury good for a long time – wool and linen were much cheaper. It was not until the industrial revolution that cotton became the prominent fibre crop.

With the invention of the spinning machine ‘Spinning Jenny’ (1764) and the cotton gin (1793), it became possible to separate cotton fibres from the cotton kernels by machine and process them cost-effectively, which led in particular to an expansion of cotton cultivation in the USA and India (under British colonial power). In the USA, the history of cotton cultivation is closely linked to slavery and the misery of many millions of people from Africa. At the beginning of the colonial era, cotton in the USA mainly came from India, as its production was very time-consuming and would have been too expensive in the USA. Slaves had to cultivate huge cotton fields under adverse conditions and perform the hard work involved in cotton production. Between 1790 and 1800, annual cotton exports in South Carolina rose from less than 10,000 to more than six million pounds. While the colonisers profited from the cotton trade, the greatest expansion of slavery occurred. More people than ever before (e.g. in tobacco or rice cultivation) suffered under the atrocious conditions on the plantations or died as a result of slavery in cotton production.

Mahatma Ghandi, the spiritual leader of the independence movement in India, made cotton spinning on the spinning wheel a symbol of non-violent resistance against the colonial power. India was heavily exploited by the British through cotton production. Ghandi called on people not to buy cheap cotton fabric from England, but instead to spin cotton themselves according to ancient Indian tradition. Even today, a spinning wheel is depicted on the Indian national flag and official Indian flags must be made of khadi, a hand-spun yarn.

Thirsty fibre in arid regions

Originally, the cotton plant is a very perennial plant that can cope well with drought and is perennial. However, because the cotton harvest is highest in the first year, it is now grown almost everywhere as an annual crop. To produce high yields, cotton needs a lot of water and heat during the growth phase. However, for a high quality harvest of white absorbent cotton, it is important that it is harvested in a dry period. If it rains, the absorbent cotton would soak up water and rot. For this reason, cotton is now grown in dry areas and artificially irrigated. Cotton is probably the crop with the highest water consumption in the world. According to estimates, cotton cultivation consumes roughly the same amount of water as all private households on earth combined. Exactly how much water this is and where it comes from varies from region to region. As cotton is cultivated in arid regions, the artificial irrigation of the fields often leads to water shortages.

An impressive and frightening example is the Aral Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which was the fourth largest lake in the world until the 1960s. Water extraction for the irrigation of the huge cotton fields in the area caused the Aral Sea to shrink by more than half. The dried-up shore areas are monotonous salt deserts, many fishermen have lost their jobs and in the remaining parts of the lake the salt content is much higher than in the seawater, so that drinking water has become a scarce commodity in the region. There are also problems with drinking water in West Africa: although the cotton fields here are irrigated with rainwater, the chemical fertilisers and pesticides used in cotton cultivation pollute the groundwater of entire regions.

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Tragic world champion: use of chemicals

Although cotton is only grown on just over two percent of the world’s arable land, 10 to 20 percent of all pesticides are sprayed on it. Cotton therefore not only holds the world record as the arable crop with the highest water consumption, but it is probably also the crop with the highest use of chemicals. A danger for people, nature and the environment in the affected regions. Conventional cotton is usually grown as a monoculture. The long growing period of the annual crop leaves no time for intercropping to improve the soil. This depletes the soil and makes it easy for pests to spread. In order to achieve high yields despite this, a lot of mineral fertiliser and pesticides are applied to the fields. According to the Munich Environmental Institute, an average cotton field is sprayed around twenty times per season with all kinds of agricultural poisons. Farm workers are often exposed to these poisons without adequate protection and bear the health consequences. Acute poisoning occurs, which can lead to death, and constant contact with pesticides can lead to illnesses such as cancer, nerve damage, hormonal disorders and infertility.

Biodiversity, which is already being damaged by the cultivation of monocultures, is also declining further due to the high use of pesticides. The soil and groundwater are also being polluted. In addition, the cultivation of genetically modified cotton plants is extremely widespread: in 2019, genetically modified cotton varieties were growing on almost 80 percent of the world’s cultivated cotton land, and in India it was even 95 percent of the area. This contributes to the loss of genetic diversity and increases the risk of pest resistance. Farmers also become dependent because they have to keep buying new seeds and pesticides. In many places around the world, it has become difficult to obtain cotton seed that can be propagated naturally.

From the seed to the T-shirt

Around 80 countries in the tropics and subtropics grow cotton today. The most important growing areas are in China, India, Brazil, the USA… The global area under cultivation of over 30 million hectares has remained more or less stable for seventy years, but yields have almost tripled during this period. It is estimated that around 200 million people live from cotton production. While in the USA it is mainly large-scale producers that are active in the sector, in Cameroon, Togo and other West African countries there are many family businesses. Cotton is one of the most important export goods in these countries, but prices on the international market are kept low by subsidised cotton from industrialised countries. Even though cotton cultivation has helped to improve rural infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals in some areas, West African cotton farmers are among the poorest. Many small farms rely on the hands of all family members to make ends meet financially with the enormously costly cotton production. Unfortunately, child labour is also widespread.

It takes around eight to nine months from sowing to harvesting the cotton. Cotton plants flower over a long period of time. As a result, the cotton bolls are also ready for harvest at different times. Smallholder farms harvest the cotton by hand in several passes. This is very labour-intensive, but has the advantage that only the ripe cotton bunches are harvested. Hand-picked cotton is therefore usually cleaner and has a higher ripening quality than cotton harvested with picking machines. Mechanical harvesting takes place in a single pass and is therefore always a compromise in terms of the degree of ripeness of the cotton bunches. On the huge monoculture areas in Texas, chemical defoliants are sometimes used so that the picking machines can harvest the fiber tufts well.

After harvesting, residues are removed from the cotton bolls in a mechanical process and the fibers are separated from the seeds. In addition to colour, degree of ripeness and cleanliness, the quality characteristic of cotton fibers is the so-called staple length. This refers to the fiber length, which is between 18 and 42 millimeters. The long seed hairs of cotton are called lint. They are particularly valuable because they can be spun into a fine cotton yarn for high-quality textiles. Medium-staple cotton (26-29mm) accounts for around 90 percent of the market and is used for all kinds of fabrics.

In textile factories, cotton comes into contact with countless chemicals: thousands of different chemicals are used for bleaching, dyeing, tanning and finishing, many of which are potentially harmful to health and the environment. These toxins endanger the textile workers, who often have to toil for starvation wages and with only minimal access to protective clothing. The textile industry is very water-intensive and many of the harmful chemicals are released into the environment with the wastewater. However, cotton textiles are still very popular with consumers around the world: they are non-scratchy, breathable, stretchy, tear-resistant and allergy-friendly and can easily be washed in the boil wash if necessary.

Money, oil, fishing nets

Linters (the short fibres left on the seed after the longer fibres are removed) consist mainly of cellulose and are in great demand in the paper industry as a high-quality renewable raw material. Linters are used to produce banknotes and other tear-resistant papers, for example. In the food industry, linters are also processed into food additives such as thickeners, stabilisers and emulsifiers.

Refined cottonseed oil is used, for example, as cooking and frying oil or as an ingredient in margarine. In the USA, cottonseed oil is the most widely used cooking oil and is also in great demand in the food industry for processed food products. American chips, peanut butter or corn flakes very often contain cottonseed oil. It is very heat-resistant and has a high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids. However, because of the many pesticides used in cotton cultivation, the oil is also controversial as an edible oil.

Cottonseed oil is also used as a raw material for cosmetics. Cottonseed meal is used as animal feed. The press cake left over from the production of cottonseed oil is very rich in protein. However, it has a high content of toxic gossypol. For this reason, it is only fed to adult ruminants. Cotton is also used in the production of bandages for medicine or for cosmetics and hygiene products such as absorbent cotton or cotton buds. Due to its tear resistance, many fishing nets, ropes and cordage are also made of cotton. Fire hoses used to be made from cotton.

Sustainable cotton – is it possible?

If you don’t want to do without cotton textiles, you can look for organic cotton when buying clothes. No toxic pesticides or genetically modified varieties are permitted in organic cotton cultivation and cultivation is carried out in crop rotation and is therefore more soil-friendly than in conventional cultivation. The farmers and pickers in the fields are exposed to fewer dangers in organic farming and generally receive slightly better wages. It is best to choose a label that guarantees both organic cultivation and minimum social standards when buying. This is the case with GOTS, for example.

However, one of the most important things you can do yourself is to make sure you don’t buy and use up too much clothing: Wear the clothes for as long as possible and donate or give away discarded clothes to people who need them. Of course, you can also buy second-hand clothes yourself and thus counteract the waste of cotton.

Sources

Deutschlandfunk: Cotton from Uzbekistan. Without child labor to the West. Link.
Global 2000: Cotton. Link.
PlanetWissen: Cotton. Link.
Utopia: 10 facts: What you should know about organic cotton. Link.
Biology page: Cotton. Link.
Lexicon of the agricultural world: Cotton. Link.
Transparency in genetic engineering: Genetically modified cotton. Areas under cultivation worldwide. Link.