Texas cotton growers need varieties that can withstand more heat with less water. The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is betting that Avalo can breed them faster—and help get them into fields.
The cotton sustainability organization on Thursday announced a partnership with the North Carolina-based plant biotechnology startup, pairing Avalo’s AI-assisted breeding platform with BCI’s farm-level program in the United States.
BCI-certified farms in the Texas High Plains have already begun contracting with Avalo to grow its cotton varieties. The company is also working with Quarterway Cotton Growers, a longtime BCI program partner in the region.
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The collaboration extends beyond seeds.
Avalo helped BCI enroll a “significant number” of new producers for the 2026 season, though BCI did not provide an exact figure. BCI and Avalo are also testing an online platform that would allow growers to collect and report data across multiple agricultural programs, potentially reducing duplicative compliance work for those participating in more than one certification or sustainability initiative.
“Serving as both a BCI member and local partner, Avalo is supporting the growers we work with by streamlining data collection and compliance processes across certifications while providing technical assistance in the field,” Ashley Barrington, BCI’s senior country manager for the United States, said.
Avalo uses machine learning to analyze the cotton genome and identify combinations associated with traits such as heat tolerance, water and nitrogen efficiency, yield, fiber length and fiber strength. The technology informs breeding decisions but does not genetically engineer the plants. Avalo instead draws from a broad pool of cotton genetics, including wild varieties, and uses natural pollination to develop non-GMO crops adapted to particular regions.
At a five-acre research plot in Clarendon, Texas, the company has been studying roughly 500 cotton varieties, collecting field imagery and genomic information to determine which plants merit further breeding. Avalo has said its process could cut the time required to bring a new crop variety from as long as a decade to approximately five years.
That timeline matters in the Texas High Plains, where agricultural production depends heavily on the declining Ogallala Aquifer and increasing heat and limited rainfall are compounding the pressure on growers.
The strain is already visible in this season’s crop outlook. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects Southwest upland cotton production to fall 18 percent to approximately 5 million bales in 2026-27, with Southwest abandonment projected at approximately 34 percent. The region’s projected yield of 554 pounds per harvested acre would be its lowest since 2003-04.
The High Plains Water District, meanwhile, found that water levels across the Ogallala and Edwards-Trinity aquifers fell an average of 0.57 feet between 2025 and early 2026, based on measurements from approximately 1,340 observation wells. Average saturated thickness in the district’s portion of the Ogallala was 51 feet.
The economics still offer growers little cushion. The USDA has estimated the average U.S. upland farm price at 61.5 cents per pound for 2025-26 and expects it to rise to 75 cents in 2026-27. However, despite this anticipated increase, the mounting production costs still tend to narrow farm margins.
Avalo is targeting varieties that can maintain productivity with fewer inputs—potentially reducing both environmental impacts and on-farm costs. However, those benefits remain prospective.
Plant performance differs from one location to another and from one growing season to another. A 2026 editorial in Frontiers in Plant Science noted that machine-learning models require validation across multiple environments and populations to demonstrate their robustness and generalizability.
BCI and Avalo did not disclose the number of participating growers or acres under contract, identify the specific varieties being planted or release field-performance data quantifying reductions in water or fertilizer. Financial terms were also not announced.
According to BCI, Avalo attributed roughly two-thirds of its cotton sales to demand from brands committed to regenerative farming. Neither organization identified those brands or disclosed the volume involved, though BCI said buyers were also interested in the program’s farm data and farmer equity components.
“We work across data, agronomy and genetics to help farmers grow cotton that’s better for their land and their livelihoods,” Tricia Carey, Avalo’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement, adding that the partnership would allow the company to “bring that work directly to more growers, at scale.”
Avalo will participate in BCI’s “Cotton & Beyond: Regenerative Agriculture in the Texas High Plains” field event in September. Barrington will also join the company’s Avalo Farm Days program later that month.
For Quarterway chief executive officer and cotton farmer Todd Straley, the breeding work is less about technological novelty than whether families can continue farming in the region.
“If this works, it will save us,” Straley said. “With limited water and more intense heat on the Texas High Plains, breeding for more extreme conditions is the only way growing cotton in our region will remain viable for farming families.”
