Regenerative cotton in the Peruvian Amazon

How regenerative cotton is grown in Peru's Amazon

As ImpactAlpha reported in September 2025, Cotton Nation moved production from Peru's coast, where water is scarce, to the rainfed Amazon in San Martín, which the article describes as Peru's third most deforested region, avoiding irrigation and conflicts over water. The company commits to reforesting one hectare for every hectare planted with cotton.

Farmers receive seeds, fertilisers, technical assistance and monitoring tools at no cost, and Cotton Nation covers international certification costs and guarantees a premium price for all of their cotton. That premium has ranged from 25 to 30 % over the price of their cotton, and more than 1,000 producers have worked with the company. ImpactAlpha also notes that the regenerative skills farmers learn carry over to cacao and coffee.

From an aid project to a market relationship with fashion brands

The partnership with Lululemon began in 2023 under the Amazon Business Alliance, a programme led by Conservation International with support from USAID and the Government of Canada that, at its 2022 launch, targeted sustainable businesses in Madre de Dios, San Martín, Huánuco and Ucayali. When USAID pulled out, the relationship continued on market terms, with Lululemon buying the cotton and providing grants for capacity building.

Other brands followed. According to ImpactAlpha, Lacoste turned to Cotton Nation after failing to find suppliers in Europe or South Asia that met its standards, and Hugo Boss, which targets 50 % regenerative cotton by 2030, adopted the Regenagri standard used by Cotton Nation across its supply chain. Eddie Ajalcriña told ImpactAlpha that brands want to "touch the ground, meet the farmers and know the source of the fiber."

Regenagri certification for regenerative cotton

Regenagri is an international regenerative agriculture programme whose criteria cover soil quality, on-farm biodiversity, lower carbon emissions, water and energy efficiency and farmer livelihoods, and it certifies supply chain companies and supports farms moving to regenerative systems. Its website reported 2,307,642 hectares, 316,563 farms and 2,278 certified supply chain companies when consulted in October 2026. Cotton Nation was the first company in Peru certified to the standard.

Regenerative vs organic cotton

Organic cotton is defined by its inputs. Textile Exchange describes organic production as excluding synthetic toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilisers and genetically engineered seed, and organic content is tracked through the supply chain with standards such as Textile Exchange's Organic Content Standard.

Regenerative cotton is defined by outcomes on the land. Textile Exchange's Regenerative Agriculture Outcome Framework, updated in 2025, avoids a single fixed definition because practices depend on place, and measures results in soil health, biodiversity, carbon, water and farmer and community resilience. Programmes such as Regenagri certify against those outcome criteria, so a buyer reading a label should check which of the two logics the claim follows, since a field can meet one, both or neither.