Growers Boost Market Access with Bayer

The Bayer e(3) sustainable cotton program opens sales opportunities for growers

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Aug 31, 2017, 11:57 ET

LUBBOCK, Texas, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sustainability and stewardship, long practiced on farms, is even more important to consumers. The Bayer e³^TM certified cotton program helps growers address this through its FiberMax^® and Stoneville^® cotton seed.

Breeding for Sustainability. Bayer Greenhouse Manager Richard Jack discusses the characteristics breeders look for to promote sustainability in cotton production. Brand leaders – including Wrangler, Levi and IKEA – toured the Bayer facility in Lubbock, Texas, while learning about the Bayer e3 certified sustainable cotton program.

A group of manufacturers representing leading apparel brands – including representatives from Levi, Wrangler and IKEA – gathered in Lubbock last week to tour Bayer research and seed innovation facilities and visit West Texas cotton farms to see the steps growers and seed producers take to continually increase sustainable production of this natural fiber.

"Apparel manufacturers are responding to the desire consumers have to support brands that are environmentally, economically and socially responsible," said Brent Crossland, Bayer fiber development manager. "Bayer e³certification provides a well-lit path for mills and brands to deliver on sustainability and transparency regarding the fiber they source."

Environmentally responsible. Economically viable. Socially Equitable. Those phrases were on the fringe of the public conscious when Bayer introduced the e³ certified sustainable cotton program in 2013. Today, that mentality drives a significant sector of consumer spending and apparel manufacturers are responding with sustainable, transparent processes for bringing clothing from the farm to the consumer.

"We developed the e³certified sustainable cotton program because we are committed to cotton, and devoted to the growers who plant FiberMax and Stoneville. e³is evidence that the Bayer commitment to cotton extends far beyond providing elite germplasm and regionally bred and adapted varieties," Crossland said. "We partner with our growers from seed to apparel."

Certified e³ growers across the Cotton Belt benefit from the program because it creates demand for their cotton. Some FiberMax and Stoneville cotton growers become certified simply by formalizing existing practices.

Newby Farms in Athens, Alabama, is one of the grower families that are benefitting from the e³program. They recently sold 40,000 pounds of certified e³ cotton to Wrangler.

"We're proud to be in with e³," John Newby says. "My family, our forbearers here, put a lot of emphasis on conservation and my granddaddy, my grandfather and my father were on the soil conservation boards. Soil conservation is the key to it and we try to remember we live in a big world and we need to be stewards of the land and good stewards to our neighbors."

Some of the practices emphasized for environmental and economic sustainability have been in practice on Newby Farms for many years.

"We use a variable rate fertilizer. We're using water sensors to try to conserve water. We've always kind of used no-till practices to try to hold the soil together," Newby says. "We just try to incorporate all that together and be good stewards to the best of our ability."

Key benefits of the e³ program include:

e³ is an environmentally responsible program encouraging reduced use of water, land and energy while maintaining productivity.
e³ is economically viable to meet the individual economic needs of farmers, farm families, farm workers and customers, and to help make farms financially competitive enterprises that are consistently profitable year over year.
e³ is socially equitable to address issues of working/living conditions of growers and laborers, needs of the surrounding rural farm community, as well as consumer health and safety aspects.

To learn more or to certify your FiberMax or Stoneville cotton, visit www.e3cotton.us.

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