Better cotton in a changing climate

Sustainable cotton starts with farmers. Olam Agri works directly with a large network of farmers in Australia, the Americas and Africa to transform their cotton farming and their livelihoods.

As one of the world’s largest cotton merchants, Olam Agri has decades of experience building an integrated global cotton business by working directly with large-scale farmers in Australia and the Americas, and smallholder farmers in Africa. We know that the key to protecting our business starts with building climate resilient supply chains for cotton. We are working together with the people that matter most, our farmers, to boost yield, provide food security and secure farmer income. We operate in Côte d'Ivoire, Chad and Togo by helping farmers maximize their crop potential and diversify their income through rotational crop such as maize, sesame and groundnuts.

We have demonstrated in multiple countries that farming cotton more sustainably supports better yields, improves working conditions, and provides financial security. The farmers that we work with have quickly adapted to new sustainable climate resilient farming techniques like regenerative agriculture with a focus on soil health improvement and integrated pest and disease management.

Driving sustainable cotton production

While sustainable cotton production is already taking place in the supply chain, further growth will require brand/retailers and consumers alike to increase their demand for sustainable cotton. We recognise that this requires our supply chain partners to actively support sustainable sourcing policies – brand/retailers to increase their uptake of sustainable cotton and the industry to increase traceability and transparency of cotton supply chains.

Through Olam Agri’s subsidiary, SECO, we are transforming the lives of cotton farmers in Côte d'Ivoire by providing them with training and farming methods that help maximise yields and diversify their incomes.

As one of the leading integrated cotton operators in Africa, we are building visibility and control over the entire supply chain, from production at farm to processing at gin, to delivery of differentiated cotton to textile mills. Being able to trace cotton back to the farm where it was produced has the potential to unlock supplies of sustainable cotton to the world and more importantly, improve farmer livelihoods.

Our industry has a viable and scalable opportunity to transform the cotton value chain into one that is more transparent, traceable and sustainable, in a way that will benefit both farmers and consumers. The future is bright, and I look forward to walking this journey together.