Unlocking the potential for regenerative cotton farming

Scaling regenerative cotton throughout the fashion and textiles supply chain is a demand-driven process that necessitates decision-makers to prioritise investments in regenerative farms

Regenerative sourcing has shown significant promise for the cotton industry; helping to regenerate soils, support ecosystems, and improve farmer livelihoods all whilst increasing yield. With initial pilots showing the potential for transformative impact, how can this approach now be implemented at scale?

To explore this topic, Innovation Forum and CottonConnect convened a closed-door workshop with 16 key voices and stakeholders that attended Innovation Forum’s Sustainable Apparel and Textiles conference in New York on Tuesday 25th June 2024.

Using CottonConnect's work with cotton farmers in Gujarat as a case study, we discussed the challenges that remain in the cotton industry and the potential for regenerative agriculture as a solution.

To follow is a summary of the key points discussed.

Discussion summary:

For growers, regenerative practices are an investment in the future as they provide long-term benefits to lower costs of production and soil health. While yields may initially fluctuate during the transition to regenerative practices, growers are often rewarded with increased soil health, resilience to climate change, and long-term productivity gains. Bringing producers together as a collective can aid in the transition to share risks.
For brands and retailers, green washing is a challenge when communicating and marketing regenerative cotton to consumers
As regenerative practices originate from India, CottonConnect’s work is encouraging a return to traditional farming methods.
For cotton-producing rural communities, from Gujarat to the Ivory Coast, the socioeconomic benefits are significant to livelihoods and should be considered in regenerative principles.

Communicating regenerative practices

“The difference between claims and storytelling is really important.”

Whilst there is an evolution in the fashion industry now interested in regenerative practices compared to 15 years ago, regenerative agriculture is a significant communications issue. Brands and retailers often find the ‘regenerative story’ difficult to communicate to consumers due to greenwashing concerns.
Some brands and retailers are experiencing that sustainability does not sell. However, there is an opportunity to re-frame this discourse and centre around durability and longevity of garments.
Establishing a common definition for what a regenerative system includes and entails for people, profit and planet.
At the farm level, communicating the benefits of regenerative practices to cotton growers is an evolving conversation. Farmers in the US are having conversations around soil health and ecosystem benefits, highlighting the importance to position regenerative agriculture as outcomes for climate resilience, yield and long-term soil health.
In 2021, CottonConnect defined regenerative practices with 11 principals and 243 codes, and the team collected 480 datapoints throughout the farming season. Over the years, the definition has evolved to include human rights due diligence codes and principles. The CottonConnect team encourages other organisations to start collecting data to benchmark work and progress. CottonConnect now has 10 years' worth of on-farm data and reports a 47% income improvement for farmers in recent years.
Verification and certification of sustainability claims are key. CottonConnect follows five steps of verification, both internally and with external parties.

Investing in traceability

“We’re excited about the new legislation because we think we’re finally in a supply chain revolution in cotton - like we’ve seen happen in other commodities.”

Upcoming EU legislation is driving greater transparency for the future of cotton supply chains. In turn, internal pressure from sustainability professions can ensure traceability and transparency is a priority.
For 10+ years CottonConnect has been working to foster greater traceability up the supply chain. Initially this was conducted manually, however, investments in technological interventions (such as QR codes and RFIDs) in recent years have made this process more efficient.
Digital product passports (DPPs) are an upcoming intervention that provides an opportunity for greater traceability, if implemented effectively across the supply chain.
CottonConnect has 900,000 registered farmers feeding into the TraceBale system and 1.4 billion T-shirt equivalent volume of cotton mapped.

The evolving business-case for regenerative practices

“We need to connect the dots, so business understands regenerative efforts as a tool in their toolbox to achieve internal targets, regulatory compliance, remediation and as a target fulfilment opportunity. We need to monetise it for them.”

Timescales are important to consider, as business models need to adapt to changing climates. There is a need to balance short-term needs and long-term market volatility to maintain business efficiency.
Businesses are investing and spending on sustainability programs. There is a need to highlight regenerative programs as a priority with such discussions with decision-makers.
For regenerative programs to scale, there is a need to ensure cost neutrality and profitable for all to ensure it is a win-win solution that stakeholders will buy into.
CottonConnect’s approach is to invest in farms and farming communities and to allow the supply chain and demand to control cotton pricing.

To learn more about CottonConnect's work with cotton farmers in Gujarat you can watch this film, and for more information on CottonConnect click here.

To continue this discussion, Innovation Forum and CottonConnect hosted a free webinar on June 6th at 2-3pm CEST.