When growing organic cotton you can´t use genetically modified seed. Fertilisers and pesticides are banned as well. 2-3 times a year, the cotton is picked- by hand.
Drip irrigation is often used which helps save water, and by picking the cotton by hand you avoid ending up with soil that has become rock solid due to very heavy machines. Soil that is loose need less watering. Kind of goes without saying really.
Amazingly- to one kilo conventionally grown cotton farmers can use 1 kg of chemicals and 30.000 liters (!) of water. To put that in perspective- that equals about 170 bath tubs of water. To one tiny teeny kilo of cotton.
By choosing organic cotton we can contribute to the fact that the workers won´t have to deal with toxic chemicals and risk their health. Their environment and water won´t be polluted, and the people buying it in the end does not expose themselves or the environment to chemicals when washing-
Keep an eye out though- the t-shirt you just bought might be made of organic cotton. But what about the dye?