Not too many drought stories have focused on cotton. As one of the thirstiest crops, it was long abandoned by many farmers in the regions hardest hit by unprecedented water scarcity. Except for one part of Arizona, where cotton blooms defiantly, even today. Because here, the more cotton fails, the…
In an age that encourages everything organic, fairly traded, and USA-made, it’s easy to overlook the less-celebrated (and often significantly more common) goods we use on a daily basis. Take the shirt on your back, for example — because NPR certainly did.
You’re probably wearing something cotton-y right now. Cotton is fairly annoying to harvest. Mechanisation was a quantum leap for the cotton industry, moving it away from archaic methods used since the days of slavery. This machine is the next step forward.