In 2021, J. Crew group launched a pilot program focusing on soil health to achieve two main goals: sustainable sourcing and social good. With a material footprint made up of mostly cotton, the J. Crew team developed a pilot program providing ‘impact credits’ to help compensate and support cotton farmers for the extra effort required to produce regenerative cotton.
Regenerate America is proud to have J. Crew group as a partner in the coalition, and to have worked with them on their efforts to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion were considered in the project. Read in Sourcing Journal how this collaborative effort is changing the landscape for regenerative cotton.
There’s just been a lot of institutional racism at the USDA at multiple levels,” said Erica Campbell, policy manager at Kiss the Ground, the nonprofit that spearheads Regenerate America. “There just has been massive discrimination—documented discrimination—by [Farm Service Agency] offices who make a lot of the loan decisions.”
Regenerate America is also lobbying for the Farm Bill to move resources away from the conventional practices it currently incentivizes, making change difficult. The coalition wants the government to make regenerative agriculture and soil health education and training available to all farmers and ranchers, as well as provide incentives to encourage farmer uptake. It would like to see expanded funding for existing USDA working lands conservation programs that prioritize practices that result in land regeneration and holistically managed crop-livestock systems.
“Making farms more resilient is really the core of what we’re proposing,” Campbell said.”
