romikgosai/squad_modified huggingface dataset:
Though known since antiquity the commercial growing of cotton in Egypt only started in 1820's, following a Frenchman, by the name of M. Jumel, propositioning the then ruler, Mohamed Ali Pasha, that he could earn a substantial income by growing an extra-long staple Maho (Barbadence) cotton, in Lower Egypt, for the French market. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt; and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops. By the time of the American Civil war annual exports had reached $16 million (120,000 bales), which rose to $56 million by 1864, primarily due to the loss of the Confederate supply on the world market. Exports continued to grow even after the reintroduction of US cotton, produced now by a paid workforce, and Egyptian exports reached 1.2 million bales a year by 1903.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: When did cotton begin to be commercially grown in Egypt?
A: 1820's,", '
Q: What French businessman convinced the ruler of Egypt to grow cotton for the French market?
A: M. Jumel', '
Q: Who was ruler of Egypt in the 1820s?
A: Mohamed Ali Pasha', '
Q: How high had cotton revenues risen by the time of the American Civil War?
A: $56 million', '
Q: How many bales of cotton were produced by Egypt by 1903?
A: 1.2 million bales a year']
During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because Herodotus had written in his Histories, Book III, 106, that in India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in several Germanic languages, such as German Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool" (Baum means "tree"; Wolle means "wool"). Noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie  [sic]." (See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in Asia and the Americas.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: In the late medieval period in Europe as what was cotton viewed?
A: imported fiber', '
Q: What 1350 writer stated that cotton was produced by sheep that grew on trees?
A: John Mandeville', '
Q: What ancient writer gave later eras the idea that cotton might be a tree?
A: Herodotus', '
Q: By the end of what century was cotton grown in the Americas and Asia?
A: 16th century', '
Q: Why was it easy for people to believe that cotton grew on sheep that grew in plants?
A: similarities to wool']
India's cotton-processing sector gradually declined during British expansion in India and the establishment of colonial rule during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was largely due to aggressive colonialist mercantile policies of the British East India Company, which made cotton processing and manufacturing workshops in India uncompetitive. Indian markets were increasingly forced to supply only raw cotton and, by British-imposed law, to purchase manufactured textiles from Britain.[citation needed]

Questions and answers:
['
Q: How did British rule effect Indian cotton processing?
A: declined', '
Q: During what centuries did British rule effect Indian cotton production?
A: late 18th and early 19th', "
Q: What British business's policies damaged the Indian cotton industry?
A: British East India Company", '
Q: What cotton products did British law mandate that India was allowed to sell?
A: raw cotton', '
Q: If instead of producing fabrics, where was India forced to purchase cotton products?
A: Britain']
The advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In 1738, Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, of Birmingham, England, patented the roller spinning machine, as well as the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that traveled at different speeds. Later, the invention of the James Hargreaves' spinning jenny in 1764, Richard Arkwright's spinning frame in 1769 and Samuel Crompton's spinning mule in 1775 enabled British spinners to produce cotton yarn at much higher rates. From the late 18th century on, the British city of Manchester acquired the nickname "Cottonopolis" due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as the heart of the global cotton trade.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What event produced an expansion of the British cotton industry?
A: Industrial Revolution', '
Q: When was a new spinning machine patented that boosted cotton production?
A: 1738', '
Q: What device did James Hargreaves invent?
A: spinning jenny', "
Q: What was Samuel Crompton's invention of 1775?
A: spinning mule", '
Q: Whic British city was nicknamed "Cottonopolis" because of its cotton production?
A: Manchester']
Production capacity in Britain and the United States was improved by the invention of the cotton gin by the American Eli Whitney in 1793. Before the development of cotton gins, the cotton fibers had to be pulled from the seeds tediously by hand. By the late 1700s a number of crude ginning machines had been developed. However, to produce a bale of cotton required over 600 hours of human labor, making large-scale production uneconomical in the United States, even with the use of humans as slave labor. The gin that Whitney manufactured (the Holmes design) reduced the hours down to just a dozen or so per bale. Although Whitney patented his own design for a cotton gin, he manufactured a prior design from Henry Odgen Holmes, for which Holmes filed a patent in 1796. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop a commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations, processed into cotton cloth in the mills of Lancashire, and then exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in West Africa, India, and China (via Shanghai and Hong Kong).

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What invention improved the cotton industry in both America and Britain?
A: cotton gin', '
Q: What American invented the cotton gin?
A: Eli Whitney', '
Q: Before the use of the cotton gin, how was cotton separated?
A: by hand', '
Q: What business development did the British use to establish a hold on the global cotton market?
A: commercial chain', '
Q: From what source was raw cotton first bought and later resold?
A: colonial markets']
By the 1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanized British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense), encouraged British traders to purchase cotton from plantations in the United States and plantations in the Caribbean. By the mid-19th century, "King Cotton" had become the backbone of the southern American economy. In the United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of slaves.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What was the difference that made American cotton preferred over Indian cotton?
A: longer, stronger fibers', '
Q: In the 1840s, what country could no longer adequately supply the British cotton mills?
A: India', '
Q: Besides buying from the American plantations, where else in the western hemisphere did Britain buy cotton?
A: Caribbean', '
Q: By what time had cotton become prominent in the American economy of the south?
A: mid-19th century', '
Q: What was cotton called in the 19th century?
A: King Cotton']
During the American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a Union blockade on Southern ports, and also because of a strategic decision by the Confederate government to cut exports, hoping to force Britain to recognize the Confederacy or enter the war. This prompted the main purchasers of cotton, Britain and France, to turn to Egyptian cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations. The Egyptian government of Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports,[citation needed] sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's occupation by the British Empire in 1882.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What action of the Union damaged the southern cotton exports?
A: Union blockade', '
Q: When did the American cotton industry fail?
A: American Civil War', "
Q: To what county's cotton did European buyers turn due to the American Civil War?
A: Egyptian", '
Q: What characteristic of American cotton attracted buyers after the end of the Civil war?
A: cheap', '
Q: What did the abandonment of Egyptian cotton mean to the Egyptian economy?
A: bankruptcy']
Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after emancipation and the end of the Civil War in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which landless black and white farmers worked land owned by others in return for a share of the profits. Some farmers rented the land and bore the production costs themselves. Until mechanical cotton pickers were developed, cotton farmers needed additional labor to hand-pick cotton. Picking cotton was a source of income for families across the South. Rural and small town school systems had split vacations so children could work in the fields during "cotton-picking."

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What was the procedure called which involved workers to work for a share of the profits? 
A: sharecropping', '
Q: What difficulty in harvesting cotton required a large labor force?
A: hand-pick', '
Q: Besides adults what segment of the southern US population was involved in the harvesting of cotton?
A: children', '
Q: What function of southern schools was created for children to pick cotton?
A: split vacations', '
Q: What part of the southern population worked as sharecroppers?
A: landless']
Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1,200 mm (24 to 47 in). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, although the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Cotton is naturally a perennial but is grown as an annual to help control pests. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. While dryland (non-irrigated) cotton is successfully grown in this region, consistent yields are only produced with heavy reliance on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer. Since cotton is somewhat salt and drought tolerant, this makes it an attractive crop for arid and semiarid regions. As water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, improper cropping and irrigation practices have led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan, where cotton is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What is the optimum amount of rainfall for cotton growth?
A: 600 to 1,200 mm', '
Q: In what soil type does cotton prefer to grow ?
A: heavy', '
Q: Why is cotton grown as an annual crop?
A: control pests', '
Q: Where in the US is considered the best place to grow cotton on Earth?
A: South Plains', '
Q: What type of tolerances make cotton an ideal crop for semiarid areas?
A: salt and drought']
Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) naturally produces a chemical harmful only to a small fraction of insects, most notably the larvae of moths and butterflies, beetles, and flies, and harmless to other forms of life. The gene coding for Bt toxin has been inserted into cotton, causing cotton, called Bt cotton, to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. In many regions, the main pests in commercial cotton are lepidopteran larvae, which are killed by the Bt protein in the transgenic cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill lepidopteran pests (some of which have developed pyrethroid resistance). This spares natural insect predators in the farm ecology and further contributes to noninsecticide pest management.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: To stop reliance on what was GM cotton developed?
A: pesticides', '
Q: What form of cotton is GM?
A: Genetically modified', '
Q: What bacterium is used to produced GM cotton?
A: Bacillus thuringiensis', '
Q: What farming pest management technique does the use of GM grown plants promote?
A: noninsecticide', '
Q: What part of the life cycle of moths does Bt toxin effect?
A: larvae']
But Bt cotton is ineffective against many cotton pests, however, such as plant bugs, stink bugs, and aphids; depending on circumstances it may still be desirable to use insecticides against these. A 2006 study done by Cornell researchers, the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and the Chinese Academy of Science on Bt cotton farming in China found that after seven years these secondary pests that were normally controlled by pesticide had increased, necessitating the use of pesticides at similar levels to non-Bt cotton and causing less profit for farmers because of the extra expense of GM seeds. However, a 2009 study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University and Rutgers University refuted this. They concluded that the GM cotton effectively controlled bollworm. The secondary pests were mostly miridae (plant bugs) whose increase was related to local temperature and rainfall and only continued to increase in half the villages studied. Moreover, the increase in insecticide use for the control of these secondary insects was far smaller than the reduction in total insecticide use due to Bt cotton adoption. A 2012 Chinese study concluded that Bt cotton halved the use of pesticides and doubled the level of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 25 million hectares in 2011. This was 69% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: In what year did a research study find that the use of Bt toxin plants failed to be effective after 7 years?
A: 2006', '
Q: On what did a 2009 study conclude that increased insects were dependent?
A: temperature and rainfall', '
Q: What did a 2012 study suggest  was halved by the use of GM plants?
A: pesticides', '
Q: What did the 2012 study say was doubled by the use of GM cotton?
A: ladybirds, lacewings and spiders', "
Q: How much of the Earth's cotton crops are planted in GM cotton?
A: 69%"]
GM cotton acreage in India grew at a rapid rate, increasing from 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 10.6 million hectares in 2011. The total cotton area in India was 12.1 million hectares in 2011, so GM cotton was grown on 88% of the cotton area. This made India the country with the largest area of GM cotton in the world. A long-term study on the economic impacts of Bt cotton in India, published in the Journal PNAS in 2012, showed that Bt cotton has increased yields, profits, and living standards of smallholder farmers. The U.S. GM cotton crop was 4.0 million hectares in 2011 the second largest area in the world, the Chinese GM cotton crop was third largest by area with 3.9 million hectares and Pakistan had the fourth largest GM cotton crop area of 2.6 million hectares in 2011. The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a success in Australia – the yields were equivalent to the non-transgenic varieties and the crop used much less pesticide to produce (85% reduction). The subsequent introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to increases in GM cotton production until 95% of the Australian cotton crop was GM in 2009 making Australia the country with the fifth largest GM cotton crop in the world. Other GM cotton growing countries in 2011 were Argentina, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and Costa Rica.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: How much area was planted in India in GM cotton in 2011?
A: 10.6 million hectares', '
Q: What was the percentage of GM cotton planted in India in 2011?
A: 88%', '
Q: Waht country has the largest area of GM cotton on Earth?
A: India', '
Q: At what rank does US GM cotton stand in the world?
A: second largest', "
Q: What percentage of Australia's cotton crop was GM in 2009?
A: 95%"]
Organic cotton is generally understood as cotton from plants not genetically modified and that is certified to be grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals, such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production also promotes and enhances biodiversity and biological cycles. In the United States, organic cotton plantations are required to enforce the National Organic Program (NOP). This institution determines the allowed practices for pest control, growing, fertilizing, and handling of organic crops. As of 2007, 265,517 bales of organic cotton were produced in 24 countries, and worldwide production was growing at a rate of more than 50% per year.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What are organic plants understood to be?
A: not genetically modified', '
Q: Without what are organic plants meant to be grown ? 
A: synthetic agricultural chemicals', '
Q: What is meant by synthetic chemicals?
A: fertilizers or pesticides', '
Q: What group in the US determines the allowed practices in organic agriculture?
A: National Organic Program', '
Q: How much organic cotton was produced worldwide in 2007?
A: 265,517 bales']
Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the boll weevil. Due to the US Department of Agriculture's highly successful Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered Bt cotton (which contains a bacterial gene that codes for a plant-produced protein that is toxic to a number of pests such as cotton bollworm and pink bollworm), has allowed a reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What insect is the most destructive pest in cotton growing in the US?
A: boll weevil', '
Q: What program has effectively eliminated the boll weevil in the US?
A: Boll Weevil Eradication Program', '
Q: What is the organization that instigated the Boll Weevil Eradication Program?
A: US Department of Agriculture', '
Q: What form of cotton contains a genetically modified gene?
A: Bt cotton', '
Q: On what does the use of Bt cotton reduce reliance?
A: synthetic insecticides.']
Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics, and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: How is most cotton harvested?
A: mechanically', '
Q: What is the cotton harvesting machine that removes the boll with damaging the plant?
A: cotton picker', '
Q: What machine strips off the entire head of the cotton plant?
A: cotton stripper', '
Q: What weather conditions mandate the planting of stripper types of cotton?
A: windy', '
Q: What type of plant is cotton?
A: perennial']
The era of manufactured fibers began with the development of rayon in France in the 1890s. Rayon is derived from a natural cellulose and cannot be considered synthetic, but requires extensive processing in a manufacturing process, and led the less expensive replacement of more naturally derived materials. A succession of new synthetic fibers were introduced by the chemicals industry in the following decades. Acetate in fiber form was developed in 1924. Nylon, the first fiber synthesized entirely from petrochemicals, was introduced as a sewing thread by DuPont in 1936, followed by DuPont's acrylic in 1944. Some garments were created from fabrics based on these fibers, such as women's hosiery from nylon, but it was not until the introduction of polyester into the fiber marketplace in the early 1950s that the market for cotton came under threat. The rapid uptake of polyester garments in the 1960s caused economic hardship in cotton-exporting economies, especially in Central American countries, such as Nicaragua, where cotton production had boomed tenfold between 1950 and 1965 with the advent of cheap chemical pesticides. Cotton production recovered in the 1970s, but crashed to pre-1960 levels in the early 1990s.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What was the first manufactured fiber?
A: rayon', '
Q: When was rayon first made in France?
A: 1890s', '
Q: What type of industry produced a growing chain of synthetic fibers?
A: chemicals industry', '
Q: What company produced nylon and acrylic in the 1930s and 1940s?
A: DuPont', '
Q: What was manufactured completely from petrochemicals?
A: Nylon']
Beginning as a self-help program in the mid-1960s, the Cotton Research and Promotion Program (CRPP) was organized by U.S. cotton producers in response to cotton's steady decline in market share. At that time, producers voted to set up a per-bale assessment system to fund the program, with built-in safeguards to protect their investments. With the passage of the Cotton Research and Promotion Act of 1966, the program joined forces and began battling synthetic competitors and re-establishing markets for cotton. Today, the success of this program has made cotton the best-selling fiber in the U.S. and one of the best-selling fibers in the world.[citation needed]

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What prompted a help program produced by cotton producers in the 1960s?
A: decline in market share', '
Q: What law was passed in 1966 to aid cotton producers?
A: Cotton Research and Promotion Act', '
Q: What type of competitors does the 1966 act help combat?
A: synthetic competitors', '
Q: Where has the Cotton Research and Promotion Act made cotton the best selling fiber?
A: U.S.', '
Q: What did producers of cotton have to re-establish after the market declined?
A: markets for cotton']