Category: United States

To celebrate World Cotton Day 2026, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has produced a video highlighting four initiatives that are transforming scientific knowledge into practical tools, field-level results, and new opportunities for cotton farmers.

Presented by ICAC Executive Director Eric Trachtenberg, the video demonstrates how Virtual Reality can provide farmers and extension specialists with immersive training throughout the cotton-production cycle. It also introduces the Cotton Expert Soil and Plant Health App, which offers information in more than two dozen languages and can help diagnose 92 insects, 16 diseases, and eight nutrient deficiencies.

The video also highlights the results of ICAC’s train-the-trainer work in Zambia. More than 350 on-farm demonstrations helped participating farmers more than double their yields, reaching approximately 2,760 kilograms of seed cotton per hectare. Eighteen training sessions reached about 4,000 participants, including nearly 1,000 women, while more than 2,000 farmers adopted biochar practices.

In Uzbekistan, the ICAC is piloting a carbon-credit initiative that combines regenerative agriculture, biochar, and rigorous monitoring, reporting, and verification. The project is designed to improve soil health, strengthen climate resilience, and potentially provide participating farmers with additional income of up to US$200 per hectare.

Together, these initiatives demonstrate the spirit of “Cotton for Good”: using innovation, science, training, and international cooperation to deliver meaningful benefits to cotton farmers and their communities.

Watch the video to see how the ICAC is turning knowledge into action for cotton farmers around the world: https://youtu.be/ZIHAYl-FQGA

For World Cotton Day 2026, the International Cotton Advisory Committee has prepared a special video presentation highlighting how cotton contributes to livelihoods, economic development, innovation, and opportunity in very different parts of the world.

Created by ICAC Economist Lorena Ruiz, the video focuses on India, Chad, Peru, Ghana, and Mali, demonstrating that the opportunities surrounding cotton vary significantly from country to country.

In India, the focus includes improving productivity, increasing value addition, and developing lower-carbon approaches to cotton production. In Chad, regenerative agriculture and improved farming practices can help strengthen rural livelihoods and protect the land on which future harvests depend.

Peru demonstrates how centuries of cotton heritage can coexist with modern research and innovation, including efforts to preserve distinctive native cotton varieties. In Ghana, cotton offers opportunities to connect agricultural production with domestic processing, manufacturing, and employment. In Mali, where cotton plays an important role in livelihoods and exports, greater local processing could help the country capture more value before its cotton leaves the country.

Together, the five examples illustrate the permanent theme of World Cotton Day: “Cotton for Good.”

Cotton’s importance cannot be measured by production alone. Its full value is found in the farmers and communities it supports, the jobs and industries it creates, the trade it enables, and the opportunities it provides for countries to build stronger and more prosperous cotton and textile value chains.

Watch the video to see how Cotton for Good is taking shape around the world: https://youtu.be/Pn3YnYf7AmE