Cotton+Inquiry

Our class was asked to think of a rich, fertile question to do with fibres. Ronan wondered what would happen if all the cotton plants in the world were wiped out by a disease. This seemed a good question to try to answer because of the current problems with the Kiwifruit crop in the Bay of Plenty. Next we decided on the issues we would need to investigate to help us find an answer to the question. Different groups researched each issue. Here is the result of our whole class Inquiry. 

The history of cotton is very interesting. No one knows when or where it was first produced. Scientists in Mexico have found pieces of cotton that are seven thousand years old. In Pakistan pieces of cotton that are five thousand years old have been found. During the Middle Ages explorers found " a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the ends of its branches."

Processing cotton has always been difficult because the seeds are intertwined with the cotton. In India, a machine called the churka was invented to separate the seeds from the fibres in Five Hundred BC but this wouldn't work on US cotton which was of a different kind and so slaves were used for this boring tiring work. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and that did the job. So you can see that cotton has been important for a long time.

Now the issue of diseases. Cotton is in fact susceptible to diseases and pests so our Inquiry question is a reasonable one. There are several types of cotton disease. Viral eg Mosaic, Anthocyamosos, Fungal eg Powdery Mildew and Bacterial eg Crown Ball. Cotton can also suffer from insect damage eg from The Boll Weevil. We think the Boll Weevil could wipe out the world's cotton if it spread across the world.

The next thing we need to consider is where cotton is grown. It is grown in warm climates and often needs extra irrigation. Maybe global warming could affect cotton crops and wipe out the cotton.

Cotton is grown in over eighty countries, the main ones are China, Turkey, India, Pakistan and the US. These countries would all be affected if the world's cotton was wiped out. we think the producers would lose a lot of money. In India cotton is a large part of the country's economy. (GDP). Workers would lose jobs, the countries would lose money, and consumers (buyers) would have to find a substitute.

To find a good substitute we would have to know the characteristics of cotton. We discovered it is fire retardant (slow to burn,) absorbs water easily, it is soft and comfortable to wear and it can be warm or cool. People like it because it is a natural fibre. We decided that a good substitute for cotton would be bamboo because it is a natural fibre, it is cheap and it feels soft like cotton. Also bamboo produces fifty times more fibre an acre than cotton!


 * So based on our research, we think that if all the cotton in the world was wiped out by a disease, cotton producing countries would lose money, people would lose their jobs and consumers would lose their choice. We think bamboo would take its place **.

Some of the resources we used:


 * Internet**: CNN Money.com fabrics manufacturers.com


 * Cotton** Guinevere Healey - Johnson Creative Education 2000


 * Fibres in Fashion** Sally Cowan Thompson Learning 2003


 * The Story of Cotton** Heidi Moore Heinemann Library 2009

BY ALL OF ROOM 5, NOVEMBER 2010