What links a small group of farmers from Farsala to a French couture house?

What links a small group of farmers from Farsala to a French couture house? Cotton – but not just any cotton. Organic cotton grown according to the principles of regenerative agriculture on European soil, using methods that are safe for the environment and acceptable by society’s standards. Because only such cotton meets the standards of the famous brand, and only such cotton can bring a better income and thus a better life in a better natural and social environment for those who produce it.

It all began 10 years ago in Farsala in central Greece, when a representative of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, FiBL, from Switzerland visited the area as part of a cooperation program with the University of Thessaly. “We went mainly to the mountains because our focus was dairy products. At some point, the representative looked around and saw that there was cotton everywhere. ‘Do you want us to send you someone who specializes in cotton?’ he asked,” says Dimitra Gaki, a PhD agronomist at the University of Thessaly.

“We said yes, of course, and started looking for someone in the area who was producing organic cotton. We found two people with about 3 hectares each. One was committed to growing only organic cotton, but the other wasn’t particularly interested.”

The expert came, checked the area and decided that it could become “a cradle of organic cotton seed for the whole world.” He even wrote a report on the subject. But, given the lack of organization and funding, the idea was eventually forgotten. Cotton was still grown in large areas and watered in the same way. No one paid attention to the quality of the fiber of the product produced, since the subsidy was the same for everyone anyway.

‘The new Common Agricultural Policy is important because we have implemented things that will be mandatory anyway’

Seven years passed following that report, and no one even remembered where it was, when the phone rang at the Agricultural Laboratory of the University of Thessaly. A scientist from the Institute for Regenerative Agriculture, based in Switzerland, had tracked it down. “He told us that he was interested in seeing if a regenerative agriculture chain could be set up in Thessaly,” says Gaki. This time there was more interest in seeing it through and the National Cotton Quality Center, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Foundation (ETHIAGE), identified two sites for testing based on the quality of the product produced and the soil and climate conditions: Farsala and Domokos.

“We held a meeting and invited many cooperatives, young people and farmers from the region,” recalls Gaki. “A representative from the Earthworm Foundation spoke to us and presented the principles of regenerative agriculture, what we can do to keep the soil alive and healthy, so that it can continue producing and reproducing, and how we can transfer the goodness of the soil to the product. He explained that it is also important for the consumer to know not only that a quality product is being produced somewhere in the world, but also that there are no environmental, social or economic problems in the production area. He also said that the land should be planted to protect it when the main crop is not present. Of course, he explained that a lot more needs to be done than usual, but I think he managed to convince everyone.” The Earthworm Foundation is a nonprofit organization connecting farmers with companies around the world to promote regenerative agriculture.

“Then when we discussed it with the Enipeas team [a cooperative of young producers founded in 2017 that now has 110 members and four producer groups cultivating a total of 500 hectares], they said, ‘Let’s go for it,’” Gaki concludes.

“When the proposal came from the university, we decided to give it a try. We wanted to get into the ‘new class’ of farming, to try things out. They also told us that we would be attending training seminars, and that is very important to us because knowledge is not a given here. Also, the lure of exporting to a European market was great,” explains Enipeas’ representative and cooperative president Thanasis Karaiskos. The farmers sat down to learn about the soil and how not all parts of their crops have the same needs, which is why they need to apply precision farming. “If you have a foot problem and you need to apply cream, you won’t apply it all over your body because you’ll waste a lot of cream for no reason,” mentions an agronomist specializing in precision farming as an example.

The pilot project

A pilot project was launched in 2021 and 50 hectares of cotton were planted by 17 farmers. “When we went to look at the fields, they made a 2-meter deep cut in the ground in a field planted with regenerative agriculture principles and a cut in a neighboring field. It was remarkable; the latter was as dead as a concrete wall and the former at 50 centimeters deep had bugs. It looked like it was alive,” the agronomist describes.

In addition to the difficulties of dealing with various plant diseases without the pesticides that farmers had come to be familiar with up to that point, the experiment also revealed other pitfalls that were indigenous to Greece. There was no ginning mill to process the organic cotton. This turned out to be a good thing, because the consultation with the group of farmers was done without intermediaries.

And while everything seemed to be going well, the farmers who had joined the pilot project were informed that they would not receive the same subsidy that their colleagues receive because they grow organic cotton and there was no provision.

“We went to the [Agriculture] ministry and they said, ‘Oh, what nice things you’re doing, but we don’t know if you’ll get the subsidy,’” Gaki recalls. Fortunately, a ministerial decision cleared up the misunderstanding. In the meantime, the project has taken on a life of its own and is growing quickly. The mandatory soil cover in the months when there is no cotton provides fodder for local stockbreeders. The mandatory crop rotation (different crops from year to year) also produces legumes, which are organic as well. “A whole new situation is slowly emerging,” says Gaki.

“The new Common Agricultural Policy is important because we have implemented things that will be mandatory from 2024 anyway,” adds Karaiskos. Two years’ worth of harvests have already been sold, but the producers did not know exactly who the buyer was until two weeks ago, when a company representative came to Farsala to meet them. However, in keeping with their promise, they did not want to reveal the name of the fashion house.