Jun 20, 2025 (MarketLine via COMTEX) --
Sustainability initiative Better Cotton has revealed its plan to become a regenerative agriculture standard over the next 12 months to enhance sustainability and community welfare in global cotton farming.
Better Cotton demand and engagement senior director Eva Benavidez Clayton announced the plan at the 2025 Better Cotton Conference held in Izmir, TA 1/4rkiye.
Eva Benavidez Clayton said: aEURoeIt is increasingly clear that we need approaches that donaEUR(TM)t simply mitigate or reduce harm, but that actively restore the environment. I am therefore pleased to share that over the next 12 months, Better Cotton will complete the remaining steps to become a regenerative standard.aEUR
To achieve this transition, Better Cotton is revising its Principles & Criteria and enhancing the capabilities of its Programme Partners to apply the standard effectively.
Additionally, an outcome-based reporting framework is being developed.
aEURoeWhile Better CottonaEUR(TM)s field level standard is already recognised to cover many of the core tenets of regenerative agriculture, this move will further ensure that farmers who meet our standard are adopting the most commonly agreed regenerative practices.
aEURoeThis is a natural step in line with our commitment to constantly improve our standard, which reflects the latest scientific insight as well as our enduring focus on the economic and social wellbeing of everyone involved in cotton farming,aEUR Clayton added.
In the upcoming year, Better Cotton also plans to work closely with local partners to offer farmers customised support in adopting regenerative practices.
The announcement received positive reactions from fellow panellists at the conference.
Indigo Ag cotton head Peter Bunce said: "Thinking about the impact, particularly for the future of the programme, and how you built that into the regenerative programme, hands up, I think this is great progress, well done for doing it.aEUR
"Better Cotton showing an interest in owning regenerative agriculture is very positive,aEUR IPUD president Muzaffer Turgut Kayhan added.
In 2022, Better Cotton detailed its strategy for promoting regenerative agriculture, which was followed by a project in Telangana, India, aiding 7,000 farmers in embracing regenerative methods in 2023.
The first harvest in India under the Regenerative Cotton Standard (RCS) in March signalled increased productivity and reduced costs.
The RCS, created by the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF), is a voluntary standard aimed at enhancing resilience and productivity in small-scale cotton farming through regenerative techniques while enriching farmland quality, rural communities, ecosystems, and farm animal welfare.
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