What is Regenerative Organic Certified Cotton
Everything you need to know about Regenerative Organic Certified™ Cotton
Have you heard the new word in Organic Cotton? It’s “Regenerative”. Yes the word has been around for a while, but Regenerative Organic Certified Cotton is relatively new and Patagonia, as per usual, is leading the way. We are super proud to have some of the new Patagonia Regenerative Organic Certified™ Cotton clothing, for kids and adults.
What is Regenerative Organic Certified™ Cotton?
Regenerative Organic Certified™ Cotton is organic cotton but with even more of an eco friendly, planet nurturing and fair farming focus. Putting it basically, it’s gone to a whole new level creating the highest standard in organic farming. This is achieved through a variety of methods including –
- Organic – No synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, GMOs, growth hormones or antibiotics
- Cover Crops – Farmers grow “cover crops” additionally to their cash crops to help increase soil organic matter, reduce erosion and shut carbon away in the soil
- Compost – Using waste from the farm, farmers convert it to compost and it acts as a natural fertiliser and pesticide for the soil
- Crop Rotation – Crops are rotated one year to the next using a systematic approach
- Intercropping – To improve soil health over time, multiple types of crop are planted closely together, it also increases yields.
- Low-to no-tilling – Tilling is common practice in farming, it involves digging, stirring and turning the soil. Reducing this can help the soil more organic matter, more water and potentially store more carbon
Patagonia piloted the first crop of Regenerative Organic Certified™ Cotton with 150 farmers in 2018, they now have over 800 farmers implementing the highest organic standard in cotton, and knowing Patagonia, the only way from here, is up.
Why is it important?
Some farming practices are having a catastrophic impact on the environment (conventional agriculture produces up to 25% of the emissions which are driving the climate crisis), Regenerative Organic Certified™ are pushing for the highest standards in the world, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and aiming to trap more carbon. Soil is one of the big issue areas and without it we’d be pretty scuppered. Due to intensive conventional agriculture, a lot of the planet’s soil is in crisis, it should be trapping more carbon, be nutrient rich and home billions of organisms, but it’s being sucked dry of so much, often through use of chemical pesticides, fertilisers and intensive farming. That’s why, not just organic, but Regenerative Organic Certified™ farming is so important.
Is Regenerative Organic Certified™ just for Cotton?
Well no, it’s about all types of farming and all crops. But cotton is one of the dirtiest crops out there and we have some of the amazing new clothes from Patagonia which are made using their Regenerative Organic Certified™ Cotton, so that’s where we’ve focussed. Patagonia is one of the founders of the Regenerative Organic Alliance and Regenerative Organic Certified™, once again leading the way in an area of farming and production which will have a big impact on the planet. Its 3 main pillars are; Soil Health, Animal Welfare and Social Fairness. So this is aiming to impact all aspects of Farming, which in turn could really help to slow down the impact conventional agriculture is having on our planet. The more farms and farmers who get involved, the better it is for everyone.
So what are you waiting for? Go check out our range of Patagonia Regenerative Organic Certified™ clothing – Kids Regenerative Organic Certified Cotton Clothing at Babipur
Want to know more, check out this video from Patagonia on Regenerative Organic Agriculture
