How Regenagri, Control Union and Solidaridad Scale Regenerative Farming
Responsible supply chain network Solidaridad, agricultural certification body Control Union and international regenerative agriculture initiative Regenagri have joined forces to promote regenerative farming practices.
The groups this week announced a joint commitment to champion practices that protect the health of farmland, increasing biodiversity and soil nutrients, reducing erosion and boosting water retention. Crop diversification, tree intercropping, reducing tillage, mulching and adopting water-saving strategies are among the actions that can improve crop yields while also promoting the resilience of ecosystems and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.
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The strategic partnership will leverage Regenagri’s standards framework and support services created in concert with farmers and agricultural businesses. The Regenagri certification can help brands prove they’re making progress on environmental goals, lending validity to claims about the health of their upstream supply chains. Certification can also help farmers sell their crops for premium prices. Regenagri has certified 50,000 farmers in Asia, the U.S. and South America who grow cotton, fruits and coffee and raise cattle. Since 2020, it has designated more than 1.5 million acres of farmland as regenerative.
With interest in regenerative agriculture on the rise, Control Union lends credibility to the group’s certification system, Regenagri said. Control Union focuses on auditing and tracking sustainability across supply chains for food, bioenergy and textiles, and acts as the only certifier for the Regenagri program, certifying farms, companies and supply chains. In 2022, Control Union provided a Louisiana cotton farm that supplies Citizens of Humanity, along with a Texas farm that sells cotton to J.Crew, with Regenagri certifications. Control Union was also chosen by the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol three years ago to implement its own cotton verification platform.
The partners wanted to involve Solidaridad in the certification program to boost its growth. “This partnership increases the credibility, accountability and reach of the program,” they said in a joint statement. Solidaridad works with farmers across 40 countries, helping them to earn livable wages while promoting sustainability in the raw materials supply chain.
“With our direct access to millions of small-scale farmers, we will guide farmers through the process of implementing the Regenagri program and prepare them for the Regenagri certification,” said executive director Jeroen Douglas. “We expect Regenagri to become the worldwide accepted norm and one-stop-shop for regenerative agriculture.” Collaboration between the three groups could quickly scale adoption, he added.
Control Union U.K. executive director Max Goulden said that he believes Solidaridad is the “ideal organization” to take the certification “to new heights, and build upon the strong foundation we have laid.”
The partners said that throughout the transition, all three will work to provide a smooth transition for companies and farmers already engaged in their programs. “This strategic move represents a significant milestone in the pursuit of regenerative agriculture and underscores the commitment of organizations across the industry to build a better and more environmentally conscious future,” they said.
