U.S. cotton farmers have lost a reliable, captive customer base largely to cheaper synthetic fibers, which are becoming increasingly linked to “forever chemicals” and the potential health risks they present. U.S. cotton now depends heavily on exports, with more than 85 percent of our bales being exported. This exposes our producers to shifts in global demand and foreign trade policies and has resulted in our nation being the largest importer of cotton products on the planet – but only a fraction of those products is made from U.S. cotton. So, we are allowing foreign competitors to put our farmers out of business by selling inferior products to U.S. consumers. This must stop.
BACA provides solutions to American cotton’s share of our nation’s robust domestic retail consumption. This legislation has unified support up and down the cotton supply chain – U.S. farmers, gins, warehouses, spinning mills, and retailers. But the benefits reach far beyond the farmers who grow the highest-quality and most responsibly grown fiber in the world or the retailers who sell the products. The environment and consumers win too.
Consumers are increasingly demanding natural fibers. Unlike synthetic fabrics derived from plastics, cotton is a natural, renewable, and biodegradable fiber. It breaks down naturally at the end of its life cycle, rather than lingering in landfills or shedding microplastics into the environment, which eventually makes its way into our bodies. For consumers who care about what they wear and how it’s made, American cotton offers a clear answer: natural, comfortable, dependable, and responsibly grown.
As Congress addresses the headwinds facing the farm economy, BACA must be a part of that debate. We’ve accomplished much through the Working Families Tax Cut Act, increasing reference prices for commodities, and other historic investments in rural America, but we must build on that success.
Cotton is an important part of our nation’s Southern agronomic system and boasts a strong economic multiplier for our rural and textile communities. The strong, bipartisan Buying American Cotton Act will stand to benefit all of us and help to build a more resilient U.S. cotton industry.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.