If you grow organic cotton you know about GOTS and you are not happy about it!
GOTS is a certification standard that is beyond certified organic and is an international or Global standard designed to ensure that organic cotton growers are “following the rules.” This standard has mainly been about preventing any GMOs in cotton and doing the testing to make sure there wasn’t a problem. Over time they have expanded their reach to include social issues, ecological issues and now pesticide residue testing. As I write this, we are having to hold up all organic cotton processing waiting to find out about the particular pesticide residue tests GOTS may want. It is an interesting problem – being certified organic but unfortunately certified organic just isn’t enough!
Needless to say, growers are not happy about the change, the problem or the delay in getting paid. When someone is not happy it is usually because something is not happening, and we are trying to make something happen.
So, we have scheduled an Organic Cotton Webinar to be held next Tuesday, December 5th at 1 pm CST and lasting to 1:45 pm. We will have Elizabeth Tigen, the Fiber and Textile Specialist with Oregon Tilth. Elizabeth works with most if not all the cotton gins who process organic cotton and she is working through this issue with GOTS. Almost all organic cotton buyers want GOTS certification, or they won’t buy the cotton. So, Elizabeth walks a fine line between GOTS, Buyers, Gins and even Growers.
If you would like to be a part of the Organic Cotton Webinar, we would love to have you join us. Just click on this link: Organic Cotton Webinar December 5th and you will go to a registration page to enter your name and email address. After signing up you will get an email that will let you join the webinar. Let me know if you have any problems.
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