The potentially higher cost of producing organic cotton might seem daunting to growers considering organic methods, but consumers have demonstrated that they are willing to pay more for organic fabrics. Daniel Sanders, a representative of EcoSport in Hackensack, New Jersey, says that this year his clothing company may have a hard time finding all the organic cotton it needs. His company buys from 500,000 to 750,000 pounds of organic cotton each year, primarily from Texas and California. Conventional cotton costs about 75 cents per pound, but EcoSport pays an additional 50 cents per pound for organic fibers. In addition to Pimentel's groundbreaking studies of energy use in corn and wheat farming in the Midwest, Livingston recently found that organic farming was more energy efficient than conventional methods for corn, safflower, and tomatoes.
Energy costs are just one factor in deciding what farming methods to adopt.
Growers like the Sheppards are concerned about the long-term impacts of conventional farming. Claude Sheppard's father and grandfather farmed the same land where they grow organically today. We don't want the ground to be so contaminated that they can't grow on it.