Neil Young’s Cotton Crusade Has Incorrect Data

When I was in grade 2, I had nothing to share with my class during “show and tell.” To make my time in front of the class interesting I informed everyone that my mum delivered twin girls the day before - which was a complete fabrication.

My little “story” lit up the entire class the way Thomas Edison’s light bulb lit the world. Everyone listened to me for a brief period and asked me questions. I was temporarily the center of attention. The only problem from that little episode was my teacher, Ms. Cloth (no kidding, that was her name) called my mum to congratulate her. Boy did I get into trouble! I learned then and there about fibbing – especially public fibbing. Ever since, I kind of get upset when I see adults fudge the truth or condone it.

So that brings me to the Internet, where fibs often are never really addressed. In fact they multiply and no one seems to care or do anything about it. I can’t decide what is worse: the actual untruth that is spread like a disease, or the amount of human beings that print and state untruths without compunction. Anyway, it’s all making me want to share what I know because I think the truth is important.

In August 2014, Neil Young, the musician and my fellow Canadian, stated on his website that cotton farming takes up 5% of the world’s arable land. Rolling Stone Magazine pounced on the story (a kind of ratification) as did Stereogum, a music site that really should not be spreading fibs. Check it out.

http://www.neilyoung.com/news/

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-urges-boycott-of-non-organic-cotton-20140804

http://www.stereogum.com/1696138/neil-young-has-some-thoughts-on-cotton/news/

My friend, a cotton expert, disagreed with the 5% number and wrote Neil Young the following:

“Based on the latest information from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), world cotton production accounted for 2.6% of world arable land in 2011, the latest data available. Your assertion that cotton accounts for almost 5% of earth’s arable land is in error by a factor of two”.

Neither Mr. Young nor any of the other websites reporting the 5% fibbie changed their position. Why would that be? I mean 200% off is a not a little fib – it is like saying I am 12 feet tall.

And it gets worse.

Neil Young’s website also proclaimed that cotton accounts for 25% of all pesticides used in agriculture. My friend addressed this untruth in the same letter saying:

“Sales worldwide in 2012 of plant protection chemicals (pesticides) totaled US$51.2 billion (Cropnosis, a UK based chemical consulting firm). Pesticide use on cotton was US$3.2 billion, or 6.2% of the world total, down from 11% of all pesticides used worldwide in 1986. Plant protection chemicals include herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, seed care chemicals, professional products and others.

The assertion on your web site that cotton uses 25% of all of the petrochemical based pesticides, fungicides and herbicides globally is in error by a factor of approximately four.”

Mr. Young did not change anything in his website nor reply to my friend. And the little fib Mr. Young stated now resides not only on the three websites above but nine additional sites that I have listed below. I could have found more sites but I ran out of patience after looking for fifteen minutes.

1. http://blog.royalapparel.net/keep-children-cool-safe-summer-heat/
2. http://www.q107fm.ca/2014/08/05/neil-young-boycotting-non-organic-cotton/
3. https://organicallygrowngroup.wordpress.com/
4. http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/08/04/neil-young-bans-sale-non-organic-cotton-t-shirts
5. http://pitchfork.com/news/56136-neil-young-boycotts-non-organic-cotton-asks-fans-to-do-the-same/
6. http://www.bodyfueling.net/ARTICLES/cotton1.html
7. http://www.naturalchoice.net/blogs/greenies_1209b.html#.Vb6nhmRViko
8. http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/Organic_clothing
9. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/20/cotton-production.aspx#!

As I was scouring for the 400% error on insecticides I found countless non-Neil Young reports stating cotton uses 16% of all pesticides. All of them are right almost, since cotton used 11% of all pesticides -- but in 1986. Too bad it’s not 30 years ago.

Here’s a few of those sites... again I ran out of patience finding sites spreading untruths.

1. http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/organic-cotton/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_clothing
3. http://journaltimes.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/earthtalk-is-cotton-the-dirtiest-crop/article_ec38c618-a647-11df-b64e-001cc4c03286.html

So there you have it, one man on a crusade against conventional cotton with a large sphere of influence and followers but incorrect data unleashes an avalanche of incorrect data. The tally stands as follows:

Young’s “Data”	Actual / Factual Data	The Difference
5% - percentage of the planet’s arable land he says cotton farming occupies	2.6% - the actual percentage of the planet occupied by cotton farming	200%
25% - the percentage of all agricultural pesticides used worldwide that are used on cotton	6.2% - the actual percentage of all agricultural pesticides used worldwide that are used on cotton	400%

I suppose I should be grateful that I am allowed to set thing straight to those that care. 

It is vitally important we transform ourselves into a sustainable industry. In order to do that, we need to be on the same page, and deal in “The Truth” - whether we like what we hear or not. If the starting point of improvement is deceptive we’ll never get going.

The hunt for the truth is not complicated. How much pesticides are used in the world and where they are used are objective pieces of data and fully available from industry experts. The information on what is growing on arable land is also fully available. There is no need to obfuscate the truth.

Cotton has lots of history and lots of problems, but Mr. Young and others are spreading fibs, for no reason.