OCA, which works with more than 100,000 Indian farmers, commissions Antarctica, a climate solution provider for research.
The analysis draws on validated data from more than 18,000 farmers from 2020 to 2023 under a variety of irrigation conditions: rainwater feeding, intensive irrigation and a mix of the two.
The study aims to develop an environmental profile of growing cotton from seed cotton grown by OCA in the Indian Agricultural Program. It examines changes in irrigation and agricultural methods, resulting in different environmental profiles of 15 specific supply areas in India, spanning three independent growth cycles.
The study covers five Indian states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat and Telangana.
Bart Vollaard, Executive Director of OCA, said: “OCA’s first regional LCA not only provides our industry with unique insights into the environmental benefits of organic cotton, but also helps us determine how to deepen the impact of work and improve the impact of OCA’s own data systems so that we can deliver more and more accurate LCAs in the future, demonstrating the positive impact of the good work we plan.
OCA’s LCA is designed to establish reliable benchmarks for cradle-to-cover gate evaluation, support verifiable environmental claims, and provide range 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) reports for related brands. In addition, OCA seeks to refine its data collection and management process for future evaluation and monitoring.
The findings of the study show that organic cotton has a smaller environmental footprint in several impact categories, such as climate change potential, water consumption, acidification and eutrophication. More specifically:
• Emissions directly from the fields are identified as important factors that contribute to climate change impacts, acidification and eutrophication. For example, the effects of these emissions between 45% and 99% (average 88%) between most categories in control (one out of 16) – Irrigation Groups
•The use of fertilizers (synthetic and natural) is a determinant of the impact of cotton production environment.
•The impact of water use is very large, depending on the irrigation practice of the irrigation system, with minimal impact.
Caroline Peyer, head of the Antarctic Environmental Impact Accounting LCA, said: “In Antarctica, we are proud to work with OCA to provide a wide range of farm-level datasets for this innovative study, providing valuable insights into the environmental impacts of different agricultural systems, thereby improving the effect of organic cotton, enhancing good attitudes and promoting good business design. Designing a strong procurement strategy.”
