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Some Americans hope to revive the sales of U.S.-grown cotton. Brazil and China command much of the market, and that market has stopped growing. Harvest Public Media's Michael Marks reports what went wrong and what people want to do about it.
MICHAEL MARKS, BYLINE: The global demand for cotton has been stagnant for quite some time.
HANK REICHLE: You know, you'd have to look at it and say, over the last 20 years, we actually haven't had any growth.
MARKS: That's Hank Reichle, CEO of Staplcotn, a marketing co-op that exports American cotton around the globe. He says the crop has lost out to man-made materials like nylon or polyester, which are easier to work with and often cheaper.
REICHLE: Certainly, what we've seen over the last 20, 30 years is a big increase in synthetic textiles versus cotton.
MARKS: During that time, the cotton business has downsized. In 1991, the U.S. Department of Agriculture counted more than 1,500 cotton gins. Now there are just over 400. That has caught the attention of people in Washington, like Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said in May...
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BROOKE ROLLINS: Now we are working to reverse course. Today, USDA is announcing our new Great American Cotton Plan.
MARKS: The plan is part of a multipart strategy to increase demand for the fiber and profits for farmers. One piece calls for supporting a bill called the Buying American Cotton Act.
DARREN HUDSON: What the act does, basically, is it says, OK, look. Even if you're a Chinese mill and you're sourcing and using U.S. cotton, to the extent you're using that in your product and you come back, you get a tax credit.
MARKS: That's Darren Hudson, agricultural economics professor at Texas Tech University.
HUDSON: I can bid more for those U.S. bales because I know I'm going to get a tax credit on the back end.
MARKS: It's an exciting prospect for folks in the cotton business like Seth Stevens, general manager of United Ag Cooperative, a farm service company in El Campo, Texas.
SETH STEVENS: It has a whole trickling effect across the industry. I mean, prices, you know, have a good shot to rise. More acres are going to be put in the ground, and that's going to equate to more cotton to gin.
MARKS: Hearings must still be held for the bill in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, but it has dozens of co-sponsors from both parties. In addition, cotton boosters are trying to claw back sales they've lost to synthetic fibers by suggesting they aren't healthy for you, like in this ad from the National Cotton Council.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: With every step, every breath, every heartbeat, microplastics escape from our clothes into the air.
MARKS: The Plant Not Plastic campaign portrays cotton as a safer alternative to man-made fabrics.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Choose cotton. What you wear matters. Plant, not plastic.
MARKS: Research shows that synthetic fabrics do shed microplastics, but the full impact on human health is still unclear. Most studies have focused on measuring the amount of microplastics released after clothing is washed and dried. Still, the message is gaining traction, according to garment-makers like Marta Miller, who runs production facilities in Austin and Los Angeles.
MARTA MILLER: We're finding a big demand currently, with people wanting to have a cotton-based activewear brand.
MARKS: Some of Miller's clients have asked her to try to use cotton to make things like leggings due to concerns over the health effects of synthetic fabrics. It's a work in progress, though.
MILLER: It fits when we first put it on. But after, you know, six hours of wearing it, it kind of loses the ability to stay tight on the waist or something like that.
MARKS: Cotton growers are counting on those kinds of efforts, along with some help from Congress, to boost their industry.
For NPR News, I'm Michael Marks in Austin.
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