TOCMC | Company Information

Company Information

General Information

Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative (TOCMC) members produce the majority of the organic cotton grown in the United States. Founded in 1993, TOCMC is headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, and most of its members are located in the surrounding South Plains area.

This region of Texas, the heart of “the world’s largest cotton patch,” is well-suited to the production of organic cotton. Winter temperatures are cold enough to limit insect pressure and provide a hard freeze to defoliate the cotton plants prior to mechanical harvest. In addition, a sunny climate and quick-drying soils facilitate timely weed control.

The cooperative has approximately thirty producer members, who grow approximately 10,000 acres of organic and transitional cotton. In recent years, total annual production on these family farms has averaged approximately 7,500 bales. However, since many of these farms have limited or no irrigation, yields are very rainfall dependent and vary significantly from year to year.

Other organic crops grown by TOCMC members include peanuts, wheat, corn, milo, soybeans, blackeye peas, watermelons and grapes. Also, the cotton seed, which is separated from the cotton fiber in the ginning process, is marketed to organic dairies for feed.

TOCMC and its members are certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), who has been a leader in the development of organic standards and certification. TDA’s certification program, which took effect in 1988, includes on-site inspections and both soil and plant tissue testing to monitor compliance.

Each bale of cotton marketed by TOCMC is tracked from the field to the customer. Buyers can know the producer’s name and farm for each bale purchased. Additionally, TOCMC participates in the Organic Exchange on-line tracking service.

USDA classing specifications are used to classify TOCMC cotton into quality pools. Payments to producers are determined by the pool in which the bale falls, giving producers an incentive to grow the highest quality cotton possible. However, quality, like yield, is somewhat subject to weather conditions that are beyond the farmers’ control, resulting in some year-to-year variations in the percentage of the crop in each pool.

The quality pools are also the basis of TOCMC’s price structure. Customers receive bales from the pool containing cotton of the quality specifications they have requested and are charged the price related to that pool.