Technology is continually advancing, leaving so much to learn. To enable learning, researchers need access to groups of samples with well-documented information. These are known as “reference sets” or a “reference library”. We wish that our ancestors had systematically saved their original samples for re-examination with new technology, but unfortunately, the necessary reference collections for co
tton don’t exist today. We need to start building a new and comprehensive reference collection now! After exploring all of the options, we decided crowdsourcing was the best way to get us started. Contributing cotton is easy. Just visit our website https://goplaati.com/submit-materials/, answer a few questions (we just want good records for the future), and we will send you a prepaid address label. (If you need an envelope, we can send you that as well.) We only require a handful of cotton, perhaps five bolls. Scraps from the edges of the field after harvest are perfectly fine. In exchange for sending us a few bolls of cotton, we’ll send you a clear stadium bag and PLAATI sticker. Remember, the same rules apply to collection as they did in kindergarten. “If it’s not yours, don’t touch it.” You must be over 18 years of age and have permission to collect and send cotton. We want to build a better world and that starts with doing the right thing. We hope that it will be possible to work with you to obtain samples yearly and that you’ll join us in this worthwhile effort.
