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Quality considerations to the mill are fiber properties such as length, length uniformity, strength, fineness, and foreign matter content. Consumer qualities, by contrast, are those that relate to properties of textile products rather than to those of the fiber themselves, such as crease resistance, durability, dimensional stability and luster. The desired quality improvements are achievable through research and the extension of research findings into commercial practice.

Foreign

Generally speaking, the considerations for expansion of cotton consumption in foreign countries are the same as in the United States market. A more favorable relationship in price and quality would favor increased cotton consump tion. Cotton available at a lower price discourages not only expansion in synthetic-fiber production, but also expansion in production of foreign growths of cotton.

There are two significant differences, however, between the foreign market and the domestic market. First, the special export program now in effect has already made United States cotton far more competitive for the time being from the price standpoint in international markets. It is essential that this competitive relationship be maintained and that a long-range program be developed and implemented to accomplish this.

A second and impressive difference is the low per capita consumption abroad. The International Cotton Advisory Committee gives the average annual per capita consumption of cotton in the United States for the past 5 years as 27.4 pounds. The foreign average is 4.9 pounds. Actually, per capita consumption varies widely, ranging from 9.0 pounds in western Europe through 8.9 pounds in Australia and New Zealand, 6.5 pounds in South and Central America, 3.6 pounds in Asia to only 2.9 pounds in Africa.

A small increase in the wardrobes of the people of the world would open a market for additional millions of bales of cotton. Since there are approximately 2.4 billion people outside the United States, an addition to their wardrobes equivalent to 1 pound of raw cotton for each person would require 5 million bales of cotton; an addition equivalent to 2 pounds would require 10 million bales. These are completely practical goals when one considers that a pair of work pants uses 1.5 pounds of cotton, a woman's dress, 1.1 pounds and a child's knitted shirt, 0.3 pound.

Efforts in foreign countries, in which the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States cotton industry have been cooperating, have already demonstrated that per capita consumption can be increased. Greater efforts could achieve really significant gains.

SECTION IV. ACTION RECOMMENDED TO INCREASE COTTON CONSUMPTION

An adequate research and development effort

The task group recommends that the Federal cotton research and development program be established at a level equal to 3 percent of the farm value of the cotton fiber. For the year 1955, when even reduced acreage produced a crop valued at $2.4 billion, a research budget established in accordance with this recommendation would total $72 million annually.

Research holds the key to (a) quality changes for consumer demand, (b) maintaining cotton's quality superiorities over competing materials, and (c) keeping cotton's price competitive with other materials without destroying production, processing and manufacturing profit incentives. It provides the product changes and improvements vital to continuing effective promotion programs. Opportunities to improve quality and reduce cost are limited only by the funds available, by the vision and imagination of the research workers, and by the aggressiveness with which the work is undertaken.

The fastest growing industries-aircraft, electronics, drugs, and pharmaceuticals spend 6 percent to 9 percent of gross sales for research and development. The chemical industry, another growth industry, producing the synthetic fibers, plastics, and other products that comprise cotton's principal competition, spends more than 3 percent for research and development.

This research is a business expense, and as such the cost is deducted from income before Federal income taxes are computed. Hence, with corporate tax rates at the present level, the Federal Government is already bearing over half the cost of virtually all industrial research.

In addition, however, the Government, itself, is making vast outlays for research outside of agriculture, with such expenditures amounting to more than

$2.5 billion per year. Much of this money is paid to industry for research done in industrial laboratories under contract to the Government; most of this contracted research has direct application in industry.

Since the value of cotton lint products is $18.5 billion, a comparable effort on behalf of cotton, at the rate of 3 percent of gross sales, would total more than $500 million. Much of the overall research effort for cotton is now and should continue to be done by private companies within the cotton industry. However, it has long been recognized that individual farmers are not in a position to conduct the types of research needed with respect to the commodities that they produce, and that this is both a proper and necessary function of Government. At present the Federal Government is conducting about 30 percent of the total research being carried out on cotton. This percentage of the $500 million mentioned above would be $150 million.

The task group felt, however, that a better measure of the Federal Government's responsibility in the field of cotton's total research effort would be to apply the 3-percent figure to the value of the raw cotton fiber as it leaves the farm. Obviously, however, this must be considered a very minimum rather than an optimum role for the Government to assume in the overall research effort.

The urgency of cotton's competitive situation dictates that a massive research effort be mounted at once through placement of research contracts to avoid further delays. Facilities are available for placing such contracts. An adequate program would require ultimately the availability of new, enlarged, more suitable facilities. The necessary expenditures to begin the planning and building of such facilities should be made promptly. In a proper "climate" (see below) and with adequate training and acquisition programs, the needed personnel could be recruited by the time the facilities were ready.

All efforts to increase utilization of cotton relate directly or indirectly to research and the dissemination of information about research findings. By far the biggest limitation of the potential for increased cotton consumption is the inadequacy of cotton's research program. In view of the enormous size of the cotton industry, its contribution to the national welfare, the number and variability of its markets, the nature and complexity of its research needs and opportunities, and the intense character of its competition for markets, a far greater cotton research and development effort is both justified and mandatory.

The grand total of the annual research effort on behalf of cotton, including the Federal Government, the various State agencies, private industry and educational and nonprofit institutions, is about $17 million. By contrast, the research conducted only by producers of synthetic fibers in the United States has been estimated at approximately $75 million annually.

The latter figure does not include research by such competitors of cotton as paper and plastics manufacturers, producers of wood and metal products, or those who supply raw materials to the synthetic fiber producers. Nor does it include any research done by cotton's competitors outside the United States.

Cotton needs particularly an increase in fundamental research, through which tremendous forward strides in technology should result. Fundamental research, which in this instance must be done for the most part with Government funds, offers the real hope of dramatic cost reduction and quality improvement.

Another tremendous need is for a real development program. Such work is expensive, and without it many meritorious research results will never find commercial use.

Distribution of research effort

The proper apportionment of research and development funds between the several fields is a question that cannot be fixed at this time. The need for research and development of different types may vary from time to time because of the changing economic situation or because of the accomplishments or promising developments in future research activity.

Certainly the figure suggested for development and commercialization must be regarded as one that is likely to grow. As research results become available from the enlarged program more development work will be required to adapt cotton to particular commercial needs. The task group offers as a suggested apportionment of research and development funds, to include USDA expenditures, contracts, grants, fellowships, and all other phases of a cotton-research program, expanded along the lines recommended in succeeding pages, the following:

I. Development and commercialization_.

II. Production and marketing

III. Utilization and marketing

$12, 000, 000

30, 000, 000

30, 000, 000

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A fuller statement on cotton's research needs and opportunities is available in the appendix, but a general description is offered here, including examples for illustration. It should be emphasized that these are only examples, and that many other important research needs and opportunities merit vigorous study.

I. DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION

As indicated, sound research findings often fail to find commercial application because the risk involved in developing markets is high and because those who have the facilities neither appreciate the full significance of the findings, nor have the basic interest or compulsion to undertake such development.

In addition to commercialization of new research findings there are opportunities to combine results obtained in different fields of research and development, even though the several concepts combined may not be particularly new, as for instance, to combine yarn and fabric construction, chemical modifications and additive finishing for optimum quality in a given end use product. Examples of needed work in the area of development and commercialization are given below, 2 relating to production, 2 relating to utilization.

A. Commercialization in cotton production and marketing

Example 1. Cmmercial use of automatic samplers at gins: A prototype of an automatic cotton sampler for gins is now several years old, and several more refined models of it have been made. The automatic sampler takes a random sample throughout the bale which presumably is more representative of the bale than the conventional cut sample. Enough cotton is taken for two full-size samples without mutilating the bale. Except in a few gins, the sampler is not used. In the meantime, bale mutilation continues and farmers lose excessive quantities of cotton because of frequent and unnecesarily heavy cutting of bales. Several steps need to be taken to assure commercial acceptance of automatic sampling: First, a more rugged and foolproof model than the prototype should be developed; second, a commercial model should be capable of taking more than the two samples taken by the prototype; third, means must be found for the samples to travel with the bale, or for them to be readily available wherever the bale may be.

Because there is widespread mistrust of the automatically taken sample, extensive field trials of its value to the industry will be required. The trials should show comparative costs of hand and automatic sampling, appearance of bales, ease of availability of the samples, representativeness of the samples, preservation of fiber qualities of the samples during prolonged storage, and comparison of the class of hand and automatic samples. With these findings, an educational program can be aimed at establishing automatic sampling as an official marketing practice.

A double task, in short, faces those who wish to establish automatic sampling commercially: (1) Refine and lower the cost of the sampler, and (2) convince the cotton industry that (a) an automatically taken sample is adaptable to equitable trading in cotton, and (b) that under such a system, bales should be evaluated on the average rather than on the lowest quality found, as is the practice using conventional cut samples. Funds needed:

1. Simplification, refinement, and adaptation of prototype design... 2. Modification to take more than 2 samples--

3. Field tests:

(a) Mechanical performance..

(b) Evaluation of samples.

4. Systematizing use of samples in marketing5. Educational activities__.

Total_____

$250,000

25,000

50,000

50,000

25,000

25,000

425,000

Example 2. Commercial production of cottons derived from interspecific crosses: A well-founded body of knowledge of the characteristics of the world's cultivated and wild cottons has been established. In addition, much has been accomplished toward hybridizing the several species of Gossypium, and a number of viable crosses has been made. In some instances, selection and stabilization within these crosses has advanced to the point where a volume of cotton has been produced for spinning tests.

Geneticists and breeders are continually finding desirable fiber and/or agronomic properties in cotton, but the difficulty of combining them both in a commercial variety is a final stumbling block. Under present conditions, breeders cannot do otherwise than use most of their resources on strains likely to be rather easily advanced to variety status, mostly because of their yield characteristics.

There is urgent need to provide funds for developing known cottons that have outstanding fiber properties into high yielding varieties while retaining these desirable fiber properties. Several interspecific crosses show promise today, but established commercial breeders do not have funds enough to concentrate on their final development into commercial varieties. The interspecific hybridization program will fail if a way is not found to take the crosses those last few, but very difficult and expensive, steps from a line in the geneticists-breeders' blocks to a profitable commercial variety. This program should be supported by public funds, because the task is too costly for a commercial cottonseed breeder to undertake knowing that there is no way to prevent others from duplicating his results at little expense and no risk. Funds needed:

1. Breeding and development of high yield in interspecific crosses already having superior fiber qualities (estimated 10 years at $35,000 per year)_

2. Fiber and spinning quality evaluation and control_

3. Seed increase, maintenance and distribution_.

4. Associated educational activities__.

Total___.

$350,000

200, 000

50,000

25,000

625, 000

B. Commercialization in cotton utilization and marketing Example 1. Cotton automobile seat covers: Preliminary use trials indicate that suitably designed cotton fabrics, after the application of an appropriate water vapor permeable finish, can serve usefully as automobile slipcover fabrics. Such fabrics could be expected to compete strongly with slipcovers made from paper, plastic, and synthetic yarns, because of their superior qualities of comfort and freedom from static accumulation.

The commercialization of competitive cotton automobile slipcovers requires the design of fabrics which give the necessary functional qualities of slideability, appearance, and wear life at a competitive cost, plus the design and installation of a finishing range through which the potential economies of the special finishing treatment for the seat cover fabric can be realized.

Both the basic principles upon which the seat cover fabric should be designed, and the equipment and chemical requirements of the finishing operation are known. However, without the support of development funds to demonstrate fully the commercial feasibility of the process, and to support the design of appropriate cotton fabric constructions, textile manufacturers hesitate to make the necessary investment in this cotton product development, especially since it will compete with materials they already produce. With such support, cotton seat covers could be carried forward to commercialization and to a position competitive with materials which now dominate this field. The auto seat cover market is approximately 50,000-bale equivalents annually.

Funds needed:

1. Fabric development (approximately) -

2. Design and installation of finishing range (approximately) – 3. Educational activities and supporting research-.

$50,000 100, 000 25,000

175,000

Total development and commercialization cost_____ Example 2. Durable creases in wrinkle-resistant trousers and slacks: Recent developments have overcome one of the chief barriers to the wider use of cotton in men's suits, a market totaling nearly 161,000-bale equivalents annually, of which cotton only holds 6 percent. The same developments would greatly strengthen cotton's competitive position in men's and boys' trousers, where cotton's now dominant hold of the 470,000-bale market for work trousers and dungarees is threatened by synthetics, and where cotton could substantially increase its 24-percent share of the 200,000-bale dress trouser market.

The key development is the recent discovery of a means to impart durable creases to crease-resistant cotton suiting fabrics.

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To utilize fully the benefits of this new development, wider ranges of cotton fabrics, attractively styled for trouser and suiting use, should be developed. Finishes that develop a higher degree of wrinkle resistance than those now used with cotton for this purpose should be applied to suiting fabrics. At the same time efforts should be made to preserve the draping qualities of the treated fabrics, and to prevent losses in tear and tensile strength. These objectives can be obtained by engineering a suitable combination of fabric and finish to yield the necessary end product.

Further study is needed of the practical requirements for inserting the creases in manufactured trousers. Either dry cleaners or tailors who adjust trousers to the customer's size would carry out the work, but considerable information must be developed on appropriate catalyst solutions for various resin finishes, method of application to the creasing area, time and temperature of drying and cure, and methods of avoiding stains and streaks.

The commercial practicality of this process has already been demonstrated, but cotton cannot realize its full potential without development funds to support the necessary fabric-finish engineering and a study of the most appropriate ways to carry out this new process in some of the regular channels and operations of the garment and/or dry cleaning industries.

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In cotton production and marketing, research is needed both to reduce the cost of the raw material and to improve the quality of cotton fiber. Quality improvements through production and marketing research relate both to the needs of the textile mills and the needs of ultimate consumers. Much can be done to lower cost and increase quality by such research efforts as are envisioned in the following examples.

1. Protection of the crop from destructive insects and disease. Development of effective methods for controlling losses presently associated with insects and diseases offers an opportunity to reduce production costs by at least 2 cents per pound, and also to improve certain quality aspects of the fiber. Examples of needed research on insect control follow. Two areas are developed rather fully; 12 more are suggested, but not fully explained in this report.

A. Physiology of cotton insects__.

1. Development of resistance to insecticides__.
(a) Rate of buildup of resistance_

(b) Physiological and anatomical factors permitting insects
to escape from killing action of insecticides___

(c) Biological and life habits that permit escape from
insecticides___.

$1,300,000

22, 000 35,000

50,000

25, 000

(d) Genetics of insects as related to resistance to
insecticides_.

50,000

(e) Basis for predicting development of insect resistance to
new insecticides___

(g) Nutrition as a factor in insect resistance..

2. Reproduction in cotton insects...

(f) Percentage kill required of an insecticide to prevent
buildup of resistance__

10,000

25,000

25,000

55, 000

(a) Determination of critical and easily blocked phases in
insect's reproduction cycle--.

(b) Relation of other critical bodily functions to insect

25,000

reproduction___.

(c) Hormones in relation to insect reproduction.

15,000

15,000

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