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In cotton, you can see climate change's contribution to inflation

Aug 24, 2022
Extreme weather events drive down cotton harvests and push up prices for the more scarce commodity.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Employees hand out free reusable grocery bags at a Whole Foods Market in 2008 in Pasadena, California.
David McNew/Getty Images

U.S. cotton farmers are suffering from two years of depressed prices — China, weather and yoga pants are mainly to blame

Dec 29, 2017
The trendiness of synthetic fiber yoga pants is hurting American cotton farmers. But deep in the heart of North Carolina, cotton researchers are designing new fabrics to stay competitive.
NC Cotton Farmer David Dunlow in one of his fields.
James Morrison/ for Marketplace

How this woman revolutionized her small town's economy

Nov 25, 2016
Huang Daopo transformed the cotton industry in China hundreds of years before the West
An illustration from the book "Wonder Women."

Cotton subsidies may help growers finance their season

Jun 8, 2016
A USDA aid program will offer $300 million in assistance to cotton farmers.
Cotton producers in the U.S. have had a rough time these past few years.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

China's 11 million tons of cotton might lead to cheaper jeans

Mar 17, 2016
China's 11 million metric ton stockpile of cotton is causing a fall in market prices.
Cotton pickers harvest a crop of cotton at a field in Hami, in China's far west Xinjiang region on September 20, 2011, The Chinese government planned a market-control strategy designed to support cotton farmers, with a sudden decline in export orders for China-made textiles and garments which in turn affect domestic cotton prices. Now they have too much.  
STR/AFP/Getty Images

Cotton no longer king in Louisiana

Jul 31, 2013
Southern farmers have largely turned away from planting cotton, because grain crops are more profitable.

For public good, not for profit.

Subsidies keep Texas cotton farmers growing

Aug 17, 2012
The aid, which dates from the Great Depression, could end when Congress acts on the next farm bill. The World Trade Organization has ruled it's an illegal subsidy, and legislators are looking for budget items to slash.

Chinese demand for cotton could hit global prices

Apr 30, 2012
According to the Wall Street Journal, cotton has become part of the fabric of life in China -- the country has bought over a million tons of the fluffy white stuff in the last seven months.

MID-DAY UPDATE: Sanofi-Aventis buys Genzyme, inflation is up for January

Feb 16, 2011
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis announced this morning that it will buy American biotech firm Genzyme -- bringing to end over six...