Cotton news
News from the USA

The Cotton LEADS℠ Program hosted a Partner Meeting on April 21 in Mexico City, focused on responsible cotton production and continuous improvement efforts. Ten representatives from 8 Cotton LEADS℠ partner companies and 7 companies interested in joining the program attended the event.

High Quality Draft Sequence of Upland Cotton Genome Will Advance Fiber, Fuel, and Food Applications An international consortium, led by Professors Tianzhen Zhang from Nanjing Agricultural University and Z. Jeffery Chen of the University of Texas at Austin, has made publicly available a high-quality draft genome sequence of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).

A full report on the activity and achievements of the Cotton LEADS℠ program is now available, outlining the work of the program in its first year as well as future commitments to responsible cotton across cotton producing countries.

Nine Cotton LEADS℠ partners from Bangladesh attended the first Global Cotton Summit Bangladesh in Dhaka on March 20-21. At the conference, the challenges for responsible cotton sourcing were discussed in a presentation by Mark Messura from Cotton Incorporated.

Cotton LEADS℠ partners in the Western Hemisphere are invited to attend the upcoming partner meetings to increase their awareness of responsible cotton production and engage with founding organizations and cotton growers. Partners will have the opportunity to learn about the program’s commitments for 2015 and hear first-hand how cotton growers in Australia and the U.S. are growing cotton responsibly.

Dr. Rene van Der Sluijs Discusses New Measurements of Fiber Length Distribution Dr. Rene van Der Sluijs of the CSIRO in Australia visited Cotton Incorporated’s headquarters on January 13 to discuss current and potential new research collaborations. Cotton Incorporated currently funds one on-going research project under Dr. Rene van Der Sluijs’ direction involving investigation of potential new measurements of fiber length distribution and uniformity in cotton.

The Cotton LEADS℠ Program hosted a Partner Information Session on January 19th in Shanghai. Thirty-five representatives from 15 Cotton LEADS℠ partner companies and 8 prospective partner companies attended the event.

Following the event in Shanghai, The Cotton LEADS℠ Program hosted a similar Partner Information Session on January 20th in Hong Kong. Partners and prospective partners were invited to attend.