From Sustainable to Regenerative

We know cotton farming can use lots of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and water – unless it’s grown using more sustainable farming practices.

More Sustainable Cotton

That’s one of the reasons Primark has been working with its partner CottonConnect since 2013 to develop our Primark Sustainable Cotton Program (PSCP) which is based on the REEL code. The REEL code was developed by CottonConnect and is a three-year agricultural program providing farmers with training on more sustainable cotton farming practices. The PSCP is the largest of its kind in the fashion industry. It employs local implementation partners to work directly with cotton farmers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. We help train them to grow cotton using more sustainable farming practices by using less water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

These practices have proven benefits. Farmers on the program have on average reduced their use of chemical pesticides by 40%, their use of chemical fertilizers by 25% and their water use by 10% – a great success.

Average yields for farmers have risen along with their profits. At the same time, their use of agricultural inputs like pesticide, fertilizer and water has gone down.

Right now, 38% of the cotton in our clothes is recycled, organic or from our Sustainable Cotton Programme. We have now trained over 250,000 farmers in more sustainable farming practices under this Programme, and we are well-placed to reach our target of 275,000 farmers by the end of 2023.

Improving Soil Health

But we need to do better, and we need to go further to actively improve and restore the local environments where our materials are farmed.

When it comes to cotton farming, we know practices like tilling (turning over) the soil and using conventional fertilizers release CO2. We know soil plays an important role in supporting healthy ecosystems: they're important reservoirs of biodiversity and can help regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

We're working with farmers to introduce new practices that will not only help improve the farm-based ecosystem, including rehabilitating the soil, but also improve livelihood opportunities. It’s called regenerative farming. The PSCP already uses practices that help farmers reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and adopt better soil and pest management practices. We'll continue to help farmers embed these practices. We'll also continue to introduce other more regenerative practices to farmers in the program, strengthening the positive impacts of their farming on the environment and their livelihoods.

Better Farming Practices

We’re collaborating with CottonConnect, along with our implementation partners on the ground, on even better farming practices. With CottonConnect, we’re also developing a new industry-leading regenerative cotton code. And we’ll be working with farmers through an expanded training program, which builds on our existing PSCP training, on how they can apply these farming practices. But this is a big ambition, and it will take time. Our goal is for every PSCP farmer to adopt more regenerative practices by 2030.

To test out the new farming methods, in 2021 we kicked off a pilot program with 3,000 farmers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The farmers are being shown the benefits of more regenerative farming practices and being trained in how to use them.

The practices they're learning to use include:

• Intercropping and cover cropping – where crops are grown to protect the soil and stop it blowing away rather than clearing the land after harvesting.

• Improving soil health through reduced tillage and using organic soil cover – in order to disturb the soil as little as possible.

• Encouraging better animal husbandry - so as to improve livestock health, but also diversification of farmer incomes.

• Agroforestry – where trees are grown around crops or pastureland and used as wind breaks, food, fuel, sources of income and stores of carbon that enrich soil and help reduce erosion.

Through this pilot, we’re developing our understanding of how to leave the land and its biodiversity in a better condition.

First-Ever Scalable Regenerative Farming Program

The pilot program will also help us fine tune the new REEL Regenerative Cotton Code, which we hope will be the first-ever non-organic regenerative program that can be grown in size. It's based on farming practices designed to improve the soil, enhance biodiversity, use less water and reduce the impact of climate change as well as securing more sustainable, more resilient livelihoods for farmers and their communities. This last point is crucial: we'll need to ensure an economic return for farmers so regenerative farming makes business sense for them and they're motivated to change their practices.

However, every farm is different and a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. As with our current PSCP, we will work with our local partners to find what works best in the local context. Our partners will also work to monitor progress annually.

And we’re not stopping there... We know what we’re doing is really important – and a win-win for farmers. Which is why CottonConnect has decided to make this pioneering REEL Regenerative Cotton Code available to other brands, retailers and farmers. They’re doing this in the hope that they will benefit, too, and collectively we can all work towards nurturing nature.