Better Cotton’s decade-long engagement with US cotton producers has resulted in demonstrable shifts toward environmentally responsive practices, including improved fertiliser efficiency, increased irrigation precision, and wider adoption of biodiversity-supporting measures. These findings reflect a sector navigating economic constraints and ecological volatility while integrating long-term regenerative techniques across diverse production regions.
- The report tracks changes in cover cropping, reduced tillage, integrated pest management, and irrigation efficiency based on self-reported data from licensed cotton producers across the US.
- Adoption trends are presented for four regions — Southeast, Mid-South, Southwest, and Far West — each with different climatic, agronomic, and operational constraints affecting sustainability practices.
THE REPORT: The report provides a detailed review of Better Cotton’s ten-year engagement with licensed producers in the United States. It draws on a decade of data generated through annual producer self-assessments and post-harvest reports. These inputs tracked the adoption of sustainability-linked practices across themes including irrigation, pest management, soil health, and biodiversity. Methodological controls were applied to manage anomalies and ensure regional benchmarking of both adoption rates and contextual reporting.
- The number of licensed producers ranged from 21 in 2014 to 631 in 2018/19, dropping to 325 by the 2023/24 cotton season.
- Producers submitted annual data on yields, inputs, irrigation, and adoption of recommended practices across soil health, pest management, and biodiversity.
- Findings were published each year in Results Indicator Reports and organised by production region to support comparison and trend analysis.
- Where possible, producers were invited to explain year-on-year changes through optional narrative comments in their post-harvest forms.
- Anomalous data was flagged, reviewed manually, and retained or excluded with supporting rationale included in each year’s reporting documentation.
CURRENT LANDSCAPE: The report disaggregates farm-level information by region, highlighting differences in scale, mechanisation, labour, and yield among the Southeast, Mid-South, Southwest, and Far West. Each region reflects unique climatic and agronomic conditions that shaped producers’ approach to sustainable practices. Mechanisation levels varied, as did irrigation dependency, which affected both inputs and yield outcomes.
- The data illustrates how regional constraints and operational norms shaped sustainability priorities and capacities over the past decade.
- Producers in the Far West averaged 4,100 acres per farm, compared to 1,000 acres in the Southeast and around 2,500 acres in the Mid-South.
- The Far West recorded the highest yield at 1,560 pounds of lint per acre, with near-total reliance on supplemental irrigation systems.
- Farms in the Mid-South averaged ten total owners and workers, reflecting mid-range labour requirements and mechanisation levels across that region.
- Labour intensity was lowest in the Far West due to reliance on large equipment fleets, while the Southeast used more mixed systems.
- Regional differences influenced practice choices, including fertiliser types, tillage methods, and biodiversity-enhancing interventions.
THE NUMBERS: The report includes trend charts showing shifts in adoption of practices related to soil management, biodiversity, pest control, and irrigation. Data reflects voluntary producer reporting and is not nationally weighted. Nonetheless, the patterns reveal consistent uptake of reduced tillage and crop rotation, as well as significant growth in cover cropping. Biodiversity-enhancing interventions varied more widely by region and year, influenced by local conditions and producer capacity to maintain ecological buffer zones.
- Cover cropping rose from 48% of producers in 2015 to 65% in 2023, driven by soil conservation and water retention incentives in multiple regions.
- Reduced tillage was adopted more widely over time, although the exact rate of increase varied between humid and arid production zones.
- Crop rotation remained high, with more than 90% of producers in all regions reporting its consistent use as part of regular practice.
- Irrigation-related practices were tracked only for those producers who indicated use of irrigation, and were not extrapolated to the full dataset.
