"Making the Grades: Cotton Standardization Policies in the US and Egypt, 1914-1939"

This paper compares the policies of the US and Egyptian governments toward cotton standardization from World War I through the interwar period. I draw on archival and published materials from the US Department of Agriculture and the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture to examine the concurrent standardizing efforts of these governments. During WWI, each took over formerly private standards for cotton grades in sales and futures contracts. The USDA extended its oversight of grading by concluding the Universal Standards Agreement with European manufacturers in 1923, but met with mixed success in convincing domestic firms to participate. Egypt’s government, on the other hand, relinquished grading oversight back to pre-war, exporter-led organizations. But faced with accusations from foreign buyers that its key cotton varieties were “degenerating,” it responded with regulations on mixing cotton types, trading seed stock, and breeding new strains.
Through a comparative framework that approaches standardization as a tool of economic governance in an agricultural commodity chain, I contend that these policies toward cotton standards aimed to secure foreign markets during the turbulence of WWI, the postwar agricultural slump and the Great Depression. However, the object of these standardization campaigns reflected each country’s unique (and changing) position in the global cotton market. The US, as a high-volume producer with a robust domestic industry, promoted “physical standards” for grades (like staple length and color) and sought formal participation by stakeholders. But it found these out of step with its domestic industries, which preferred private grades that better reflected cotton’s “character.” Egypt, a specialized exporter dependent on price premiums, standardized cotton varieties instead of grades, publicly regulating their reproduction and consistency to promote their reputation among foreign buyers. This paper brings regional literatures on interwar agricultural policy into a conversation about changing methods of governance for global commodity chains in the early 20th century.