Organic Cotton

Conventional farming of cotton plants uses more chemicals per acre than any other crop. Tons of chemicals washoff the fields into the water table we all share.

Tengu is an organic food importer. We feel that people should think about what they eat and where it comes from. The same should applyt to all that we “consume”. A hundred steps are taken to make our clothes, involving hundreds of workers. The vast majority of these are people who barely earn enough money to live on. We all know the story of shoes selling for 15,000 yen but the workers who made them getting paid only a few dollars per day.

The cotton items we offer are from a project organized by Fair Trade Company Japan, an Indian Organic Farmers Association and Assisi Garments of India. Together they have developed an economic model that allows the farmers to grow organic cotton and be paid a premium price when they deliver it to the cotton ginnery. The organic cotton is then made into wonderful soft clothing by a local Catholic NGO called Assisi Garments.

Shorten the distance between the farmer and you and the farmer and textile workers get more money. The buyer gets a product that retains and radiates the positive energies that any happy producer showers on the things they make. These items not only make you feel and look good they make everyone who has touched them along the path from India feel good. This is not true of your brand namerunning shoes or shirt.

Organic cotton growers spend substantially less cash on production than conventional growers. They do not pay huge sums to pesticide companies. Recall that cotton has the highest chemical application rate of all crops. Organically grown cotton though, yields less per acre. The farmers are paid a 20% premium for organic cotton in this program. Global Village pays all organic certification costs also. This means the farmer’s gross margins are the same or better than conventional cotton growing.

A win-win situation for all.