T Shirts

Part 1: Cotton

All t-shirts begin with one fiber: Cotton. In the world of cotton The United States is king. The U.S.A. exports more cotton than any other county in the world. This is due to three reasons.

1. Technology: The United States has the largest economy of any country in the world; as such it has a lot of capital to use to develop technologies for growing and harvesting cotton. This manifests itself in two forms, Genetic engineering, and Harvesting machines. By genetically engineering the cotton seed, the Monsanto Corporation makes new forms of the plant that produce more cotton and increase their resistance to pests. This genetic engineering is so widespread in the cotton farming business that roughly 90% of cotton grown in the United States is genetically modified. This genetic modification is so successful that it has dramatically increased US cotton production. Cotton yields have doubled since 1970 and are likely to increase even more in the near future.

image courtesy of Monsanto

2. Information: The USDA has an extensive testing process for bales of cotton harvested in the U.S. They test how fine, strong, long, and white all of the bales are so that cotton buyers know everything they need to about every bale of U.S. cotton. This keeps cotton buyers informed of what they are buying and makes them confident that they are getting the exact type of cotton that they need for their t-shirts every time they buy from the U.S. An example of these statistics can be found here.

3. Subsidies: Cotton production in the United States is heavily subsidized. The government gives out taxpayer money to cotton farmers in many different ways. A counter-cyclical program in which the federal government pays farmers when the average price of cotton falls below a sustainable level. Direct Payments to cotton farmers, these payments a farmer receives from the government no matter what prices of cotton are. Crop Insurance this insures the farmer if they have poor harvest....