The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) launched a new version of its Principles & Criteria (P&C) this week with a heightened regenerative focus for its field-level standard. The new version marks the next step in the organization’s quest to become a regenerative standards system.
The updated P&C came into effect April 1 following an independent assessment of BCI’s standard against recognized regenerative programs and industry-wide consultations to ensure alignment on the proposed changes.
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The previous version of BCI’s P&C covered soil health, biodiversity and natural habitats, water, pesticides and fertilizer use, along with livestock when relevant. These areas remain central in the new standard, which also strengthens the existing requirement of farmers to demonstrate continuous improvement by ensuring a greater focus on regenerative agriculture when setting annual targets.
“Our P&C is a living resource routinely updated to remain relevant and reflective of farmer realities,” said Jannis Bellinghausen, senior director of standards system integrity, Better Cotton Initiative. “As climate change threatens farming communities, we have gone further to strengthen their focus on continuous improvement in relation to the principles of regenerative agriculture throughout our field-level standard.”
Last June, the cotton sustainability initiative announced that it would transition to becoming a regenerative standards system within a year, focusing on its commitment to protect and restore the environment and improve conditions in global cotton farm communities.
“It is increasingly clear that we need approaches that don’t simply mitigate or reduce harm, but that actively restore the environment,” Eva Benavidez Clayton, senior director of demand and engagement at Better Cotton said during the announcement at the 2025 Better Cotton Conference in Izmir, Turkey.
Last month, BCI announced that it would partner with global nonprofit Soil Health Institute (SHI) and national ag-tech provider Growers Guide to fund on-farm data collection to better support cotton producers in the United States. BCI pledged nearly $200,000 in funding for a number of projects, such as on-farm research, regional Integrated Pest Management (IPM) research and an analysis of five years’ worth of reported inputs, practices and profitability for partner cotton growers in the U.S. BCI said this targeted field-level support would give farmers data-driven insight to address issues such as soil health and minimization of chemical inputs.
BCI made additional updates to the field-level standard in the updated P&C, covering management, natural resources, crop protection and decent work with the goal of enhancing clarity and auditability.
The updates to the field-level standard in P&C v3.2 are one element of the organization’s process of becoming a regenerative standards system. Further updates to other aspects of the BCI Standards System are planned to roll out throughout the coming year.
