Timberland, Impact Farming and Haiti-based Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA) have launched a new study looking into the possibility of reintroducing cotton as an export crop for Haitian smallholders. Cotton used to be a valuable agricultural export for Haiti but stopped being a viable crop due to decades of natural disasters, deforestation and trade embargoes in the early 1990s. If the study proves successful, and opportunities for organic cotton farming in Haiti are restored, companies like Timberland might one day turn from early supporters of the SFA agroforestry enterprise into its customers. In 2010, Timberland and SFA embarked on the creation of a sustainable agroforestry model that helped Haitian farmers plant five million trees in five years while also improving crop yields. The new study is conducted by Impact Farming, with support from the SFA, Timberland and the Clinton Foundation, with a focus on the feasibility of smallholder cultivation of cotton and the possibility of organic certification or participation in the Better Cotton Initiative.

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