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General Mills isn’t directly compensating farmers To provide evidence to those and other CEOs
for regenerative practices but sees its participation that U.S. cotton is being produced sustainably,
in ecosystems credit markets as a way to ensure the National Cotton Council launched the Cot-
that farmers who reduce greenhouse gas emissions ton Trust Protocol, which set a series of goals for
while conserving water and protecting water quality the industry to reach by 2025, including a 30%
potentially make more money than other farmers. reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an
Offset markets will ensure that “we’re not 18% increase in irrigation efficiency. (By com-
treating all farmers as equal,” said Jay Watson, parison, Levi Strauss and Co. has pledged to
who is in charge of sourcing sustainability and reduce its carbon emissions by 40% by 2025.)
regenerative agriculture at General Mills.
The program, whose board members include
“The ones that are really working to rehabilitate representatives of Levi’s, the World Wildlife
their land and regenerate their ecosystems and Fund and The Nature Conservancy, finished
providing cleaner water, protecting water quality, a pilot project this year with 300 growers with
improving air quality … improving soil health, they the goal of having half of all U.S. growers
really should be compensated differently,” he said. participating by 2025.

For U.S. cotton growers, the pressure on sus- “These brands and retailers are needing trans-
tainability and carbon emissions originated with parency,” said the protocol’s Burton. They’re
clothing brands based in Europe. Dozens of needing something that allows them to hit
brands and retailers, including H&M, Ikea, Tar- their marks.”
get, Gap and Walmart, have pledged to source
100% sustainable cotton by 2025. And a new Eventually, if the program works as designed,
survey carried out for the industry by the Econ- clothing companies and retailers will have
omist Intelligence Unit indicates that industry access to credits generated by the protocol
CEOs are broadly intent on sustainability issues. and the right to use the protocol label on their
products. The credits would provide funding to
Some 60% of 150 fashion, retail and textile compensate growers for the time they spend on
leaders surveyed said implementing sustainabil- record keeping as well as a grant program to
ity measures was a top strategic objective for help growers pay for implementing practices.
their company, second only to improving cus-
tomers’ experience. More than half the CEOs The fruit, vegetable and nut industry, meanwhile,
said they were collecting on data on suppliers’ has organized an initiative called the Stewardship
greenhouse gas emissions and 59% on water Index for Specialty Crops to measure the sector’s
and energy usage. environmental footprint. Metrics are currently
being developed on food loss
and waste as well as on green-
The .ones .that .are .really . house gas emissions, which is

working .to .rehabilitate .their . being measured by fuel use,
land .and .regenerate .their . electricity use, fertilizer produc-
tion, nitrous oxide emissions
ecosystems . . . .should .be . and soil carbon.

compensated .differently .
Members of the program’s
—Jay Watson, .General .Mills coordinating council include
officials with Campbell Soup,

14 www.Agri-Pulse.com