Comment on "B-b-but don't you need our cotton???"
jqubed@lemmy.world 22 hours agoIIRC, cotton was more suited for cultivation in Egypt and other areas anyways, only ever marginally suited for growth in the southern USA. With cotton production starting in these other, better-suited regions during the war, the market share of cotton from the South never recovered to pre-war levels. I think I’ve read that cotton cultivation might’ve disappeared from the U.S. altogether if not for the efforts of universities and industry groups like Cotton, Inc. to develop varieties that grow better in the region.
phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 21 hours ago
Cotton grows well in tropical and subtropical areas. That includes the southern US. American cotton originally displaced cotton from India and Africa because Americas cotton plants produced longer stronger fibers. More relevant to the reduction of cotton were the introduction of synthetic fibers from the 1920s on with rayon, nylon, and polyester fibers being cheaper and easier to generate and process with less or no seasonal effect.
Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida and Central America are still the main producers of global cotton supply.