Better Cotton, the world’s most significant cotton sustainability movement, will have its annual conference June 21-22 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The event, which will take place at the Felix Meritis, will bring together over 300 industry players – in-person and online – representing all phases of the supply chain.
The conference will be organised into four core issues based on their influence on the sustainability of the cotton sector: climate action, smallholder livelihoods, traceability and data, and regenerative agriculture.
Each part will be presented by a keynote speaker chosen for their extensive knowledge of the themes under discussion. The climate action theme will be kicked off by Nisha Onta, executive director of sustainable development initiative Governance Lab; Antonie Fountain, CEO of cocoa sector watchdog the Voice Network, will usher in discussion on smallholder livelihoods; Maxine Bédat, founder and director of ‘think-and-do tank’ the New Standard Institute (NSI), will discuss traceability and data; and Felipe Villela, co-founder of sustainable farming foundation reNature, will present on
Better Cotton Farmers will be featured throughout the event as we aim to raise awareness of the importance of each subject in Cotton-producing communities worldwide. Farmers and field facilitators from India, Pakistan, Australia, Brazil, and Mozambique will be present, providing guests exclusive insights into their operations.
A practical workshop will be organised under the climate action topic to broadly investigate the possibility of carbon financing in cotton production and agriculture. The discussion will examine the benefits and potential drawbacks of insetting and what implementing such procedures might entail for farmers.
In an interactive session designed to directly engage the audience on the topic of a living income and how we can work towards this in Cotton and beyond, Voice Network Chief Executive Antonie Fountain will sit alongside Ashlee Tuttleman, senior innovation manager at IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, in the livelihoods theme. Notably, the duo will dispel several fallacies about agriculture and livelihoods before delving into the obstacles and chances for advancement in this field.
With Better Cotton preparing to deploy its traceability system later this year, the conference’s emphasis on the subject provides a chance for a current update. Jacky Broomhead, Better Cotton’s senior traceability manager, will meet with Erin Klett, Verité’s senior director of research and policy, to explore how brand, retail, and supplier members can prepare their operations for improved supply chain visibility. TextileGenesis and other solution suppliers will join the panel to discuss Better Cotton’s ongoing pilot project in India.
The fourth and final theme of the conference, regenerative agriculture, will delve into the subject, from its definition to the goals of mainstreaming such practices. Smallholders and big farm owners worldwide, including Almas Parveen from Pakistan and Todd Straley from the United States, will participate in an interactive panel discussion to assess the real-world application of regenerative principles’ proposed by the audience.
Several groups from the cotton industry and beyond will attend the two-day event to share their perspectives. Cotton Australia, Organic Cotton Accelerator, US Cotton Trust Protocol, Tony’s Chocolonely, Retraced, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, J.Crew Group, WWF, Textile Exchange, and Pesticide Action Network (UK) are among the participants.
There will be plenty of opportunities to network along with an action-packed itinerary. On the evening of June 20, a welcoming event will be held at the Museum of global sustainability project Fashion for Good, where visitors can view a curated cotton display.
