Moving towards a more regenerative approach to cotton farming

Under our Primark Sustainable Cotton Programme (PSCP) cotton farmers are trained to reduce their use of water and dependence on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, in addition to learning new skills relating to seed selection, land preparation, sowing, crop management and harvesting.

What is regenerative farming?

When it comes to cotton farming, we know that practices like tilling (turning over) the soil and using conventional chemical fertilisers release CO2. We also know that soil plays an important role in supporting healthy eco-systems, as it acts as an important reservoir of biodiversity and helps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by storing carbon. It’s therefore vital we maintain healthy soil.

We want to help farmers introduce more practices in the future that improve their farm-based ecosystem, improve soil health and quality and strengthen biodiversity. This is called regenerative farming.

What role will regenerative farming have in our PSCP

Our ambition is to use more regenerative farming practices within our PSCP by 2030. As part of this, we are collaborating with CottonConnect to develop a new regenerative cotton code.

3,000 farmers are now in the 3rd year of a pilot focused on testing more regenerative agricultural practices and the newly developed REEL Regenerative Code is the basis of training.

The regenerative practices being taught include:

• Improving soil health through reduced tillage and using cover crops. Cover crops are plants grown to enrich the soil and protect it from erosion.

• Reducing chemical pesticide and fertiliser usage and increasing use of natural alternatives instead, for example, biopesticides and compost.

• Encouraging better animal husbandry to improve livestock health and diversify farmer incomes.

• Agroforestry, where trees are grown around farm or village borders, acting as windbreaks, shelters from the sun for wildlife, and which could also provide additional sources of income for farmers.

All of this builds on existing practices adopted by our PSCP farmers such as inter-cropping, reducing reliance on synthetic and chemical fertilisers and pesticides and increasing use of bio-fertilisers.

This is a big ambition, and it will take time.

A new regenerative code for cotton farming

The pilot programme will also help us fine-tune the application of CottonConnect’s new REEL Regenerative Code, so we can truly understand how it can be applied to smallholder farmers.

It goes without saying that every farm is different and that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. We are working with our local partners to find what works best in the local context. Our partners will also work to monitor progress annually.