Cotton farmers in the United States say they are in trouble and want a farm bill. They want the cost-share program going, beginning with the 2016 crop year. They say they are facing the steepest slide in net-farm income since the ‘Great Depression’. Countries like China pour money into subsidies for fiber production each year but America’s cotton producers do not have a safety net.

In the past decade, American cotton farmers have had to endure sharply increasing foreign subsidies, tariffs, and non-tariff trade barriers along with multiple years of significant weather-related crop losses. In recent years, these factors have resulted in the United States’ experiencing a 30-year low in cotton planted area; global cotton prices approaching two dollars per pound before plummeting to as low as 57 cents per pound; and record production costs far outpacing market returns for the last three years.

Over the past decade, the numbers of businesses involved in the ginning and warehousing of cotton have declined by 33 and 21 per cent respectively. The remaining 20,000 businesses in the cotton industry employ 1,26,000 people and generate over $21 billion in revenue. The textile industry was once the largest part of the US manufacturing sector.