“We just call it cotton” | Webinar summary
A conversation with Smallholder Farmers Alliance about the economics of farmer-owned data
On 23 February, 2023 Tim Tensen spoke with Timoté Georges and Hugh Locke from Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA)about why farmer-owned data economics matter to them and to the world. It’s a great conversation to listen to if you’re new to the concept, or if you’re looking to see how exciting prospects are being developed in the context of regenerative cotton in Haiti. The story of SFA is a remarkable case study, particularly because they succeeded in reintroducing cotton agriculture in Haiti after it had been halted for 30 years.
Below is a time-stamped summary with a few pull-quotes (in italics) that capture some of our favorite takeaways.
The full recording can be accessed here.
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0:00 | Introducing the webinar
Elizabeth Bennett (Terra Genesis’s Director of Marketing) and Tim Tensen (Terra Genesis’s Chief Operating Officer) introduce the webinar and format.
4:00 | Introducing Timoté Georges, co-founder of SFA
Timoté explains why farmers have embraced the transition to regenerative agriculture: SFA listens carefully to hear farmers’ concerns and organizes work parties to build things together. Farmers are paid based on their needs: tools, seeds, livestock, microcredit, technical support, etc.
“We do not come in and ask farmers to stop doing what they’re doing, but rather we sit down with them, listen carefully to their concerns.” — TG
Timoté describes his and his family’s long relationship with farming. He studied agronomy and helped farmers across Latin America.
9:15 | Introducing Hugh Locke, president and co-founder of SFA
Hugh summarizes his background in the international community, across a range of environmental and humanitarian programs, and the difficulty of finding tangible impacts. A humanitarian program led him to Haiti.
“I was shocked to find out that there are roughly 500 million smallholder farms around the world, and the people who live and work on those farms add up to 2.5 billion, which is roughly a third of humanity. And to think that they’ve been marginalized and ignored for so long — and thought to be a problem standing in the way of progress… they’re actually the largest underperforming segment of the global economy… well, it turns that there’s a bunch of businesses that are on the cutting edge of regenerative agriculture (who would have thought?), and that became a very interesting connection…” — HL
12:45 | Embracing web3 and blockchain technology to make a meaningful transition
When SFA began in 2009, they were focused on tree-planting. They became a purchaser of cotton in 2017 and began working with Columbia University to identify methods of measuring the impact of this work on variables other than the supply chain’s direct economics (women’s empowerment, the environment.) They began partnering with Terra Genesis, having never heard of regenerative agriculture, and worked together to develop a process to verify regenerative claims in a way that consistently comes back to engaging smallholders.
17:15 | Making regenerative work at the smallholder scale
“[Organic certification] is the best we’ve had so far, but essentially it’s certifying the absence of bad stuff — it doesn’t go beyond that. And if you want to go beyond that, you cannot simply make whatever you’re attempting an extension of an old paradigm. …Verifying that there’s been no bad stuff happening is not enough.” — HL
“…regenerative agriculture [is] a holistic perspective that is always attuned to the local culture and agricultural traditions. It has to be something that is continually evolving and that takes a whole different approach. This is where big companies have a role… Many of the most important pilot programs are being sponsored by major food and fashion companies of one kind or another. They represent this unusual potential to look at those smallholder programs and realize that it’s a new paradigm and you simply cannot make what they’re doing an extension of ‘organic.’” — HL
21:40 | Timoté and Hugh describe the beginning of their work together
They began by trying to incentivize farmers to plant trees, but encountered mixed reliability from farmers who were experiencing diverse challenges and competing priorities. Timberland gave them the feedback that they needed a sustainability plan. When they experimented with a “tree currency” program that provided tools and services, they noticed that farmers were motivated by the power of immediate results and a sense of ownership.
27:20 | The (re)introduction of cotton — and regenerative agriculture — to Haiti
When we started our cotton production, we said we would want everything organic, but during the process we realized that organic agriculture is partially transformative, rather than trying to solve the truer problems like tilling, biodiversity loss, inaccessibility to certification… so we said it’s not enough to try to eliminate the problematic inputs, but we need to actually better the whole production process, and at the same time, heal the land. That’s when we started thinking about regenerative agriculture. — TG
Timoté highlights the extent to which regenerative agriculture represents a compounding of beneficial elements. Farmers did not find adoption of regenerative agriculture to be difficult.
Hugh provides some context that cotton was the fourth largest export from Haiti until ~1990, and that today’s smallholder farmers’ recognize regenerative cotton as a new framework for the same thing their own parents and grandparents received a good price for.
32:30 | Factoring in farmer-owned data
Hugh describes how the price of outside organic certifiers presented a cost barrier and unsatisfying cadence and depth of support. SFA decided to design a way to instead collect data from every participating farm available to be purchased by corporations who could verify the status of the cotton — and compensate farmers directly for the use of their data.
(To learn directly about how Haitian farmers collect data, read more from four participants here.)
36:30 | Navigating national discord
Tim asks how SFA has been able to succeed despite the proliferation of violence and chaos by gangs that are sponsored by key political and business figures within Haiti.
Hugh highlights that SFA is active in seven locations well outside of Port-au-Prince, which are managed by farmers. Timoté discusses how farmers are part of the solution, and operate with intentional, strategic thinking.
40:25 | Scaling up without compromise
Hugh invites listeners to think from the perspective of a smallholder farmer, and identify what will make a difference to them, in terms of specific practical needs. Any communities or companies that wish to introduce regeneration should work with on the ground intermediaries who can introduce innovation and transfer ownership to smallholders themselves.
Q & A
44:00 | Do farmers have the ability to use/remove the data — or is it controlled by the organization?
Hugh explains that SDS is building the infrastructure to securely input and store data such that it can only be released with the authorization of each farmer. Thus, the sales of cotton and of data are two simultaneous but discrete transactions.
46:10 | Where across Haiti are the hubs?
Timoté describes that SFA farmers are in 7 different branches, 32 nurseries, and 32 communities.
47:30 | What is your vision for cotton in Latin America?
Hugh elaborates on the benefits of introducing cotton as a result of external support (seed from Brazil and India, connection with Textile Exchange, etc.) He asks folks who are interested to exchange insights, but cautions that introducing regenerative programs within large institutions and across cultures should occur without farmer groups making undue accommodations for anyone.
He identifies this commitment as a challenge and obstacle that complicates requesting and receiving financial contributions.
52:10 | How does SFA determine if a certain location would be able to produce cotton, and what variety of cotton may grow well in that location?
Timoté describes the creation of a feasibility study, which generated a map that estimates the potential for cotton production across Haiti. Farmers use the map to guide an experiment, monitor the results, and use the results to recommend a cotton seed variety for that area.
54:30 | Is SFA interested to work with university partners?
Hugh describes the benefits of working with students at Columbia and Drew University, and is open to more possibilities.
55:50 | How can attendees learn more about SFA and farmer-owned data, and provide support?
Timoté announces that SFA will launch a new website soon. He encourages listeners to consume regenerative products, donate, and participate in regenerative agriculture practices.
Hugh invites listeners to be on the lookout for regenerative products to buy (particularly in food and fashion, such as a certain running shoe from Vans) as they inevitably start showing up.
This piece was edited by MJ Halberstadt
