Honestly, I never thought much about cotton.  But since we started Forgotten Shirts last year, I have had an opportunity to learn a lot about those puffy white balls.  I know how much a pound of cotton costs on the open market (as well as on the Fair Trade market).  I know how much cotton an acre of land can produce – both in the United States as well as in Uganda.  And I have learned a lot about cotton subsidies.

Most of us have heard about subsidies, but we don’t really have a good handle on what they are or how they impact farmers here in the United States as well as farmers in other parts of the world.  Essentially, a cotton subsidy is a guarantee from the government that the cotton farmer will earn a certain amount per pound of cotton that he or she grows.  If the farmer sells the cotton for less, the government makes up the difference.

In 2002, the US farm bill guaranteed cotton farmers 72 cents/pound.  Cotton prices on the open market are about 38 cents/pound.  This means that the cotton farmer sells his cotton to a textile company for 38 cents a pound and then gets a check from the government for an additional 34 cents/pound.

There are many reasons for cotton subsidies here in the US, and we aren’t here to make statements about specific policies. But we do think it’s important to tell the stories of those millions of farmers who are trying to earn a living on the other side of the world. And we want to do what we can to help those who aren’t fortunate enough to participate in a subsidy program like many American farmers are.  The reality is that many African farmers simply cannot compete when other farmers are given a 34 cent/pound head start.  The average cotton farmer in sub-Saharan Africa earns less than $500 per year.

Here at Forgotten Shirts, we appreciate the work that American farmers do. But we also want to help African farmers compete in a way that is fair.  We believe Fair Trade is one way to offset this imbalance, and provide important support to a farmer who may earn only $300-400 per year selling cotton on the open market.  We pay our cotton farmers more than the market price for their cotton – helping them to earn a living that allows them to send their kids to school, to buy new tools or more land, and to create a better future for their families.

This is one of the reasons that Forgotten Shirts are a bit more expensive than other shirts you might buy at your local store.  When you wear a Forgotten Shirt, you support a Ugandan farmer.  You stand on behalf of the millions of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and give them hope for a better tomorrow.

Many of my statistics come from an Oxfam report called Cultivating Poverty.  You can find it here: 

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/trade/downloads/bp30_cotton.pdf

For more information on how t-shirts are made we recommend a book called “The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy” by Pietra Rivoli.