FAQ

• What does regenerative agriculture mean for AbTF?
  For AbTF, regenerative agriculture is the key to ensuring the long-term viability of the cotton sector. In light of the climate crisis and other challenges facing cotton farmers and the cotton industry worldwide, it is clear that smallholder cotton cultivation is particularly vulnerable. Changing weather patterns, extreme temperatures, and unpredictable rainfall pose major challenges for cotton growers around the world. To overcome these challenges, regenerative agriculture for AbTF means developing climate-smart agricultural practices that improve the resilience of cotton farmers and their fields. Our understanding of regenerative agriculture is to create co-benefits in interaction between nature, people, society, and the economy in order to bring agricultural systems into a better state than they are currently in. In this sense, regenerative agriculture is about combining traditional knowledge with innovative agricultural technology to achieve greater efficiency, productivity, and environmental protection in cotton farming.
• What does the Regenerative Cotton Standard® stand for?
  Developed by the Aid by Trade Foundation, the Regenerative Cotton Standard® (RCS) is a voluntary standard for cotton grown by small-scale farmers using regenerative farming methods. RCS aims to improve the overall resilience and productivity of small-scale farming while adding value to farmland, rural communities, the biosphere, and the quality of life of farm animals. To achieve these aims, RCS targets the entire production system rather than focussing on cotton only. Through its Regenerative Cotton Standard, AbTF is setting a new bar for sustainable cotton standards. RCS is the first Regenerative Cotton Standard® that explicitly prioritises the interests and knowledge of small-scale farmers involved in the production process while also considering social aspects and animal needs. RCS centres on small-scale farmers and on incorporating their rich store of agricultural knowledge into a cotton production system that supports and strengthens natural regenerative processes.
• How do farmers benefit from the Regenerative Cotton Standard®?
  Apart from offering small-scale farming communities optimal market access, RCS supports farmers with a comprehensive agricultural training programme. This programme creates opportunities for mutual learning and additional community projects as well as farmer-led business opportunities around RCS. When working in accordance with RCS, farmers receive support with applying proven cultivation practices like expanded crop rotation, optimised biomass usage, mixed crops, and agroforestry systems. This enables them to increase the climate resilience and fertility of their fields, restore depleted soil, and make it fit for farming again. To equip the farmers against individual crops failing, the new standard makes a point of supporting them in diversifying their crop rotation and crop types. Farmers also benefit from information regarding the health and wellbeing of their farm animals, which enables them to improve their farm animals’ resilience and handle them more easily.
• With whom does the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) co-operate locally, and what are the benefits for local implementation partners?
  On the ground, AbTF co-operates with Managing Entities responsible for local implementation, e.g. cotton companies. For them, RCS offers market access for an in-demand product. AbTF additionally supports Managing Entities in providing management guidance and technical training for their field staff on implementing RCS; it also co-finances targeted interventions via projects. Since RCS requires close co-operation and ongoing integration among farmers and their communities, loyalty towards Managing Entities grows. In return, Managing Entities are responsible for ensuring that their operation and production activities are in line with RCS requirements. Based on self-assessments and third-party verification results, each Managing Entity is required to design and implement continuous improvement plans to maintain or improve its performance level with regard to the criteria and indicators outlined in the standard.
• How is RCS-verified cotton processed in the supply chain? Does it fulfil the increasingly strict requirements for traceability?
  By integrating RCS-verified cotton into their individual supply chains, retailers and brands benefit from the Hard Identity Preserved implementation system underpinning their supply chain transparency and cotton origin traceability. The corresponding online tracking system creates transparency throughout the value chain. It ensures full traceability, from the ginnery level up to the final product. The RCS product label may only be awarded if the product can be proved to contain RCS-verified cotton that has been processed separately from other cotton in accordance with the RCS Chain of Custody Guidelines.
• What role does a raw material standard like RCS play for brands in meeting their supply chain due diligence obligations?
  Raw material standards are distinct from due diligence standards but can facilitate the effective implementation of due diligence requirements in the textile, apparel, and fashion industries. The Regenerative Cotton Standard® (RCS) promotes and verifies responsible business conduct by addressing a set of relevant management systems as well as preventive action principles. On top of that, it ensures that keystone processes for responsible raw material production and processing are established, thereby helping retailers and brands to meet requirements for human rights and environmental due diligence in their supply chains.
• How is RCS funded?
  Like all standards under the umbrella of the Aid by Trade Foundation, RCS is based on a social business approach that aims to activate market forces and use the raised income to invest in the implementation of the standard. After paying a volume-based licensing fee to the foundation, retailers and brands may use RCS cotton for their products and sell them under the RCS label. The income from the licensing fees is invested in funding external and independent verifications as well as agricultural and business training that addresses the most pressing challenges in cotton farming for participating smallholder farmers, such as climate change mitigation techniques, water harvesting, or soil remediation.
• Where is RCS being implemented, and when will the first bale of RCS-verified cotton be available on the market?
  The Regenerative Cotton Standard® is not limited to any specific geographical area or country. It can be implemented in different cotton-growing regions throughout the world. The goal is to promote responsible and environmentally friendly cotton production practices in smallholder farming contexts. By adopting regenerative approaches, farmers and agricultural communities can work towards restoring soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and promoting sustainable farming practices. The first pilot project started in the 2023/2024 cotton season in Tanzania. A further pilot project is running in Maharashtra, India. The first bales of RCS-verified cotton from Tanzania are expected to become available in the summer of 2024, and from India in the first quarter of 2025.
• How does RCS ensure that its requirements are met?
  RCS principles, criteria, and indicators encompass social, ecological, and economic parameters that come along with additional management requirements. Taken together, they define the Regenerative Cotton Standard’s requirements. Each Managing Entity is responsible for ensuring that its operation and production activities are in line with RCS requirements. Regular self-assessments and independent verifications s under AbTF’s oversight guarantee the reliability of the standard and verify whether RCS-associated farmers and Managing Entities meet the standard’s requirements. The scope of the verification includes the cultivation and, if the Managing Entity operates a ginnery, the ginning of the cotton. Each Managing Entity needs to submit a self-assessment every year as well as reference data for most relevant metrics when starting with RCS; the figures assessed in the reference line are updated every five years. Based on self-assessments and third-party verification results, the Managing Entity is required to design and implement a continuous-improvement plan to maintain or improve its performance level with regard to the criteria and indicators outlined in the standard. An independent third-party verification is carried out every two years at minimum. Only after a successful verification will the Managing Entity receive a Regenerative Cotton Standard® certificate, which is valid for a maximum of two years. This process is repeated according to the cycle described above.
• Who and where are your piloting partners?
  For our pilot projects, we are partnering with Vijay Cotton & Fibre LLP in Nagpur, India, as well as Alliance Ginneries and Biosustain in Tanzania.
• Which control bodies verify whether the requirements of RCS are met?
  During the pilot phase in Tanzania, Africert has been commissioned for the verifications whereas in India, Bureau Veritas has been appointed to conduct the verifications.
• How can I follow and support the work of the Aid by Trade Foundation?
  Every consumer can make a difference for both our environment and the people behind our clothing. Each purchase of an RCS-labelled product helps support smallholder cotton farmers and their families while protecting the environment. An overview of partners licensed to sell products that bear the RCS seal will be published soon. If your favourite brand does not yet offer any RCS products, let the brand know. In addition, follow us on social media or subscribe to our newsletter as we regularly report on current topics and give you a peek behind the curtain of the foundation and the world of sustainable cotton farming. If you are a journalist and want to get our press updates, please subscribe here .
• Where can I gain a deeper understanding of the standard and its criteria?
  RCS encompasses environmental, social, management, and animal welfare criteria. he standard works to improve human rights and environmental aspects in cotton production by supporting measures for adapting to climate change, for actively including small-scale farming communities, and for promoting animal welfare. You can download the full indicator set for the Regenerative Cotton Standard® here.