The Organic Trade Association is touting a boost in organic cotton acres in 2008, with 9% more acres devoted to the crop. The group notes that total acres planted to organic cotton grew from 8,510 in 2007 to 9,279 this year. That's a very small part of overall cotton acres which measure above 9 million planted in 2008.
OTA shows that 14,025 bales of organic cotton were harvested in 2007, representing a 73% boost over the previous, when the total was 8,116 bales. To figure the total, OTA surveyed organic cotton farmers who grew the crop in 2007, and combined those results with harvest figures from the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative.
The group's survey also shows there are changes in the organic cotton market. Farmers saw the range in the average price they received per pound increase from between 85 cents to $1.25 for organic upland cotton in 2006 to $1 to $1.50 in 2007. Organic pima cotton farmers saw prices rise a range of $1.65 to $2.09 in 2006 to $1.05 to $3 in 2007.