Believed to build the resilience of both farmers and our planet, regenerative cotton farming is slowly gaining ground. Denim mills are stewarding projects and standards are now providing a more formal framework. Will brands follow suit?  

It may be a new denim industry buzzword as well as a solution to mitigate climate change. It may just be a new term for traditional agricultural practices. It is in any case being rebranded as ‘regenerative’ and is spreading to cotton growing regions all over the world. It has attracted the attention of agri-tech start-ups. It is well-aligned with direct-to-farm programmes seeking to support smallholder farms. Large growers, such as Sheffer in Brazil and members of the US Cotton Trust Protocol in the United States, are adopting ‘climate positive’ farming practices that Good Earth, in Australia, has been championing for years. Standards are also becoming available, as would be expected. The assurances they offer brands could boost demand for cotton grown according to this holistic – and inherently diverse – form of agriculture.

Denim mills, especially those based in cotton-producing countries, have in recent years participated in setting up programmes that  support farmers and their families. While they offer mills a source of locally produced and fully traceable cotton fibre, they aim to be more than just a business transaction. These bottom-up initiatives are now shifting from organic to promote a practice that regenerates soil, favours biodiversity, stores carbon, and improves the livelihoods of indigenous farmers. 

Farm-forward thinking

Taking a scientific approach to the development of regenerative cotton agriculture, Turkey-based mill Maritas is working with a research programme with the Harran and Gaziantep Universities in the Harran region in the south of the country. “Our project is a first in our industry as we will also be looking at fibre, fabric and clothing properties. These have not yet been measured or reported,” says Maritas deputy general manager Fatih Kesim. He expects to see improved results in garment comfort and crop cultivation. In its first year, the cotton fibre yield made it possible to weave nearly 500,000 metres of fabric, he says. The programme will be expanded fivefold next season, potentially bringing the mill’s regenerative cotton capacity to 2.5 million metres, or 10% of its production.

Several direct-to-farm programmes have been set up in Pakistan, with support from denim mills. Their initial focus was often on organic cotton, but many are now shifting to the more holistic, or all-encompassing, scope of regenerative agriculture that covers both the preservation of natural ecosystems and supports local communities. This is the case at Interloop. “Building upon insights from the Interloop Organic Kapas initiative, launched in 2022, we are advancing towards regenerative cotton, embracing a comprehensive farming approach to revive and enrich the agricultural landscape in Pakistan,” says Faryal Sadiq, chief marketing officer. The new Interloop Regen Kapas programme is launching this year with 1,000 farmers and 5,000 acres, he tells Inside Denim.

Soorty’s Organic Cotton Initiative (SOCI) has successfully obtained organic certification in just two years and is much more than just a cotton growing programme, says Ebru Dabbag, its sales and marketing manager. “It also has a positive impact on farmers’ lives and on the field,” she says of the programme in Khuzdar in Balochistan. Soorty has since joined a regenerative cotton project in Bahawalpur, South Punjab, with REEDS Pakistan, the country’s regenagri certification partner. “We are working with smallholder cotton farmers who are the driving force behind building resilient and sustainable communities,” she says, adding that it has already registered 1,100 farmers covering 5,000 acres. 

Created by UK-based Control Union, the regenagri standard is the most widely adopted by denim mills, including Sharabati and Candiani. It is also the framework chosen by Vicunha. The Brazilian denim manufacturer is betting on regenerative cotton and has an exclusive agreement with fellow Brazilian cotton grower Scheffer. “In addition to reducing the use of chemical products, contributing to soil health, and promoting biodiversity, Scheffer’s regenerative cotton is rain-fed, and this helps lower the water footprint of the fabrics,” points out Maria Estela Rodrigues, Vicunha’s branding and marketing manager. Over the next five years, the mill plans to quintuple the volume of fabrics made from regenerative cotton, to nearly 15% of its total production. The company has also obtained regenagri certification for its three manufacturing sites in the northeast of the country. 

Australian cotton grower Good Earth applies the principles of regenerative agriculture on its farms in the country, and its Sundown Pastoral Company is regenagri-certified. But the grower also claims that its cotton is “climate positive” as it sequesters more carbon than it emits, certified by Brisbane-based Carbon Friendly. “For a long time, the retail sector was under the impression that organic cotton would be the answer but there are many reasons why organic will never reach scale. In recent years, regenerative cotton has started to appear as an alternative. Although it hasn’t quite picked up pace yet, it is scalable, as it does not have the same limitations as organic. But it does reduce the environmental impact of cotton farming by implementing certain practices and can be verified with science-backed data,” says Ben Eaves, manager of cotton brokerage WizCot. He introduced Good Earth Cotton to AGI Denim back in 2020.

Organic vs regenerative

The development of regenerative agriculture is a source of some confusion as to its relation to organic produce. The two practices differ on some points, notably inputs, but their objectives do in many cases converge. Control Union points out that its regenagri standard is not just a traditional pass/fail system as its methodologies “consider the context and capabilities of each business seeking regenerative certification”.

The overlap between the two will only grow. A direct-to-farm system in which brands actively support indigenous smallholders in Andhra Pradesh, India, Raddis Cotton applies the principles of regenerative and organic agriculture with a view to achieve organic status. “Raddis Cotton is regenerative cotton in conversion to organic,” Niccy Kol, brand catalyst, tells Inside Denim. But she points out that organic does not cover all the needs of the communities nor of the mission that the Grameena Vikas Kendram Society for Rural Development (GVK Society), an Indo-Dutch social enterprise, seeks to promote through Raddis Cotton.

The principle it abides by aligns with indigenous practices and seeks to regenerate the ecosystem as a whole. This includes growing plants with deep roots to ensure soil health and other crops such as pulses that can be sold or feed a family. Buyers looking for GOTS-certified organic cotton can “hop from one supplier to another,” says Sanne van den Dungen, co-founder and supply chain manager for Raddis Cotton. “This is not possible with Raddis Cotton, as it is founded on brands committing to a long-term relationship with farmers.”

In addition to building the resilience of these indigenous communities, the organisation also seeks to bring greater transparency and traceability to the cotton supply chain. Farmers, for instance, are now being paid through bank transfers. “Close to 95% of transactions now transit through banks, and for many farmers, who are often women farmers, this is the first time they have a bank account. It gives them dignity and truly helps build a more resilient community,” says Ms van den Dungen.

This feature is part of a new digital platform, called Vihanga, which she says means ‘wings’ as in ‘to take off’, that will also be monitoring impacts and collecting data from seed to finished product. Raddis Cotton has chosen to develop it with Salesforce. “It has a good track record in protecting data, which is important for farmers,” says Ms Kol. Brands will also have access to the platform and thus be able to trace various parameters (water saved, estimated carbon stock, etc.), which could then feed a product’s digital passport.

Spanish retailer Mango is taking its first steps in this direction through a partnership with Materra, a UK and India-based start-up that develops ‘climate-resilient’ cotton production systems, including a direct-to-farm regenerative cotton supply chain in India. Co:Farm, Materra’s digital platform, will enable the retailer to have full traceability of its cotton sourcing, from seed to garment, and to track data related to soil health, nutrients, water usage and plot size, among others.

Materra has two projects related to cotton growing, one based on hydroponics and the other on regenerative agriculture, both in India. The regenerative programme has recruited nearly 1,000 farmers in Maharashtra and Gujarat, and could increase three or fivefold this year, CEO and founder Edward Brial says. “If we can make it work in India, we can make it work anywhere,” he notes. A tech company, Materra seeks to combine the indigenous practices of restorative farming with modern-day instruments. “There is a lot of lore and knowledge at farm level, which we naturally intend to preserve, but we can also use technology to mitigate risks,” he says.

Cotton growers in the United States are looking to apply regenerative farming practices with Climate Smart Cotton, a five-year programme that began in 2023 led by the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol in collaboration with the Soil Health Institute (SHI) and other partners. SHI has been working to improve the health of cotton-growing soils since 2021 as a part of SHI’s U.S. Regenerative Cotton. SHI, a non-profit whose mission is to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil, measured soil health in 124 long-term research stations in 2019. This enabled the organization to develop a minimum suite of soil health indicators that is affordable and effective. Now SHI is defining regional soil health benchmarks to contextualize these soil health indicators, ultimately covering an area that represents 85% of the country’s cotton growing regions, Dianna Bagnall, research soil scientist, tells Inside Denim. “SHI has chosen to focus on four indicators (from a starting point of thirty different soil health metrics) that will make it possible to assess the regenerative nature of cotton farming practices without imposing too many constraints on farmers.” One easy-to-use solution developed by SHI is a smartphone app, Slakes, which measures the aggregate stability of soil. “Soil health depends on many, many factors, but farmers know their soil. With this app, they may be able to see if something new they have tried has had an impact on soil health. Soil Health is the Foundation for regenerative agriculture,” she insists. SHI’s research programme will inform the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol’s upcoming framework. “This partnership will lay the groundwork to include practical ways of improving soil health into the Climate Smart protocol,” she says.

New standards in the making 

In addition to Control Union’s regenagri and the Regenerative Organic Alliance’s Regenerative Organic Cotton (ROC) standard, the Aid by Trade Foundation is rolling out its own Regenerative Cotton Standard (RCS). Building on the foundation’s experience with its two other standards, Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) and Cotton made in Africa Organic, it claims to be the first regenerative cotton standard to prioritise the interests and knowledge of smallholder farmers. “Compared to CmiA, RCS has a new focus on animal welfare and an explicit focus on community engagement,” says Holger Diedrich, project manager spokesperson. Many of the fondation’s current partners implement elements of regenerative farming. RCS, he says, seeks to “systematise those efforts” and “incentivise farmers to do more”. The new RCS offers digital tracking and transparency along the entire value chain like its other standards, and thus “gives companies the security they need,” he says. The organisation expects to pilot RCS with some 15,000 farmers in the first year.

From a practice rooted in tradition and location-specific (agri)cultures, regenerative farming is thus slowly being formalised into a more closely monitored, data-based practice that aligns with the needs of corporate concerns. These may shape or distort the concept. For some, the term regenerative is very much open to greenwashing. “Like sustainability or circularity, it can mean everything and nothing,” says Sanne van den Dungen, at Raddis Cotton. Mostly, as points out Dianna Bagnall at the Soil Health Institute, people find it to be “a great word”. Its basic – and so very diverse – principles, it is hoped, can mitigate the effects of climate change that farmers bear the brunt of every day. If brands and retailers invest in regenerative cotton, they would be actively contributing to this daunting task. This would allow this form of agriculture to build resilience, from the bottom up. 

More than 200 local and global customers attended Maritas Denim’s harvesting event for its Regenerative Cotton Project last fall.  
PHOTO: Maritas Denim  

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