Regenerative farming methods are rooted in history. Although concepts like supporting soil health and protecting biodiversity are not novel, there has been a renewed push for these practices.
The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has long been focused on improving conditions in cotton farming through a combination of environmental and social principles. Now, it is taking this a step further by transitioning to a fully regenerative standards system, meaning all participating farms will commit to practices that actively improve nature.
“Sustainability is now the floor, and we’re thinking of regenerative as the ambition,” said Eva Benavidez Clayton, senior director of demand and engagement at Better Cotton Initiative. “Even though regenerative does not have a universal definition, and there are different interpretations, we see it gaining ground across every major commodity. Many regenerative practices faded during the Green Revolution, but reviving them may be our best shot at reversing decades of degradation.”
As part of this introduction, BCI has updated its standard’s field-level Principles and Criteria and established a new Evidence Framework that will collect and report on data covering nine key areas: crop protection, soil health, water stewardship, fiber quality, smallholder livelihoods, climate change, biodiversity, women’s empowerment and decent work. Prioritizing continued progress, the latest version of the standard requires farmers to commit to a continuous improvement plan for three regenerative practices.
Since April 1, brands and retailers have been able to set regenerative sourcing targets through BCI in preparation for the new standard’s full implementation. By the end of 2027, all BCI producers will have adopted the updated standard and been certified accordingly, allowing brand and retail members to claim regenerative cotton sourcing and incorporate data from BCI into their own sustainability reporting.
Here, Benavidez Clayton dives into the reasons behind BCI’s regenerative push, why social impact is a critical piece of the puzzle and how brands can get involved.
Sourcing Journal: For fashion manufacturers and brands, farms are often out of sight, out of mind. But how is what is happening at the field level impacting the broader industry’s footprints?
Eva Benavidez Clayton: Your footprint doesn’t start in the factory; it starts in the soil. Not all, but much of a cotton garment’s environmental impact is decided before the fiber leaves the farm, between water, biodiversity, pesticides and synthetic fertilizer. So, farmers are on the front line of climate change, with droughts, floods, extreme heats; for them, this isn’t a 2030 mitigation target—it’s adaptation this season to remain viable. They’re also running a hard business—there’s water, pests, trying to get yields with fewer inputs on margins that often don’t work. If the farm isn’t resilient, then your supply chain won’t be resilient either.
Sourcing Journal: Why is BCI in particular set up to deliver a regenerative agriculture campaign at this level?
E.B.C.: Nobody else sits between this many farmers and this many brands. Last season, we were working with 1.4 million farmers globally across smallholder, medium and large growers, and we were working with more than 250 brands around the world. We have a global member network on one side, and an unparalleled reach into farming communities on the other, which lets us connect market demand directly to practice change in the field. So we’re the bridge that really leverages the ability to drive impact at scale. It’s important to remember, though, that scale doesn’t mean one size fits all. Practices have to be locally relevant to stick. What works in Pakistan might look different in Brazil, might look different in Cote d’Ivoire, etc.
Sourcing Journal: Traceability and visibility are important for any sustainability endeavor, but why is this even more crucial to track and prove regenerative practices?
E.B.C.: Regenerative is a claim about outcomes, and if you can’t claim an outcome from a farming community, a region or a farm, it’s hard to really substantiate that. Without traceability, regenerative is just a nice word on a hang tag. Traceability has been central to our strategy for many years. We launched country of origin traceability in 2023, and we are working towards farm-level traceability in the next two years, so that will be by 2028. In a large farm context, that will be directly back to the farm. In a small farm context, that will be to a grouping of farmers that form a producer unit using the same practices in the same climate. We’ve really laid the groundwork for fiber-forward traceable, regenerative BCI cotton.
Sourcing Journal: Why are social and economic impact critical to the success of regenerative agriculture programs?
E.B.C.: You can’t regenerate soil on a farm that can’t pay its bills. Switching practices costs time and money, and it carries real risk. Yields can dip in the early years, and if the farmer carries that cost alone, adoption stalls or quietly reverses. The uncomfortable truth that we’re starting to talk about more is that every time the sector raises the bar, someone pays, and too often it is the farmer. So regenerative has to regenerate livelihoods and communities too, including decent work and supporting the women who do much of the labor in cotton in many contexts. Continuous improvement can’t mean moving the goalposts on the people least able to keep chasing them. If farmers and producers are improving their practices, then they should benefit from that.
That’s why it’s really important for retailers and brands to signal through commitments that they’re sourcing X percentage of their materials of their cotton regeneratively. That shows that the demand is there, and then the demand signals trickle down. If farmers see that there are customers willing to pay for it and they’re willing to pay for the extra work that it takes, then it’s a virtuous cycle and we’ll continue to have more regenerative cotton grown in the future.
Sourcing Journal: What are your key goals for the regenerative campaign in the first year?
E.B.C.: Firstly, building awareness among members and stakeholders. We want to get brands to commit to regenerative sourcing targets through BCI. We plan to share data and real stories from the field that evidence the practices that are being implemented and the positive changes that that farming communities are seeing. We want to build momentum so that this becomes a lasting priority, not just a flash in the pan or a campaign cycle. Success is when regenerative stops being a campaign and becomes how the industry sources cotton.
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