Better Cotton (BCI) Principles and Criteria (P&C)

What is the Better Cotton (BCI) Principles and Criteria (P&C)?

The Better Cotton (formerly BCI) Principles and Criteria (P&C) is the global and foundational production standard that farmers must comply with to be licensed to sell "Better Cotton," aiming to mainstream sustainable cotton production worldwide. With the updated v3.0 version, the standard guides cotton producers across social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Its primary goal is to improve farmers' incomes and working conditions while optimizing water consumption, protecting soil health, supporting biodiversity, and minimizing the use of synthetic chemicals.

Key Technical Framework of the BCI Principles and Criteria

The updated standard structures farm-level cotton production around six core Principles and two cross-cutting priorities. The technical framework can be summarized as follows:

• Management: Farmers are required to establish an informed, data-driven, and inclusive management system. Effective data management enables farms to better plan and improve future agricultural activities.

• Natural Resources: Covers the protection of soil health, the efficient and sustainable use of water, and the enhancement of biodiversity on the land. Regenerative agriculture practices, such as minimizing soil disturbance and maximizing soil cover, are explicitly encouraged.

• Crop Protection: Promotes the adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods to progressively reduce the use and risk of synthetic pesticides. The phase-out of highly hazardous pesticides is a key target.

• Fibre Quality: Mandates the adoption of best agricultural practices that enhance the processing quality of the harvested cotton in the textile industry, minimizing waste and contamination (foreign matter).

• Decent Work: Zero tolerance is enforced against forced labor and child labor on the farm. Worker health and safety, payment of at least the minimum wage, non-discrimination, a workplace free from violence/harassment, and freedom of association are guaranteed under this standard.

• Sustainable Livelihoods: Steps are taken to improve the economic well-being and resilience of cotton communities, particularly small and medium-sized farmers, making them more resilient to market fluctuations.

• Cross-Cutting Priorities: Gender Equality (strengthening the role of women in agriculture) and Climate Change (reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change) are mandatory focus areas integrated across all six principles.

Who this standard is for

This entry is the Better Cotton farm-level Principles & Criteria (Producer Unit / farmer licensing), not the textile chain of custody. It is for farmers, Producer Units, and implementing partners who grow cotton under Better Cotton P&C. Ginners, spinners, fabric mills, and brands that only need to trade Better Cotton volumes use the separate textile CoC standard (slug better-cotton-initiative-bci), not this agriculture page.

What is certified

• Cotton farms and Producer Units assessed against Better Cotton Principles & Criteria
• Farm practices in crop protection, water, soil, biodiversity, fibre quality, decent work, and management, as set in the current P&C
• Licensing of Better Cotton at farm / PU level and the farm-side volume that can be declared into the Better Cotton system
• Producer-unit internal management, farmer training, and field-level evidence for smallholder groups

What this standard does not cover

• Better Cotton chain of custody for ginners, merchants, spinners, mills, and brands (that is the textile CoC programme / slug better-cotton-initiative-bci)
• An organic cotton claim (GOTS, OCS, EU/NOP/TR organic remain separate)
• A product hangtag or mill transaction certificate issued from farm licensing alone
• Other fibres or non-cotton farm products covered only because cotton P&C was licensed

Questions buyers and operators usually ask

Is this the same as the Better Cotton certificate our spinning mill has?

No. Farm P&C licensing says the cotton was grown under Better Cotton Principles & Criteria at a Producer Unit. The mill certificate is chain of custody: it says the mill can buy, record, and sell Better Cotton claims (often mass balance, sometimes physical). A brand that asks for “BCI cotton” in yarn needs CoC in the textile chain; a ginner buying from farmers needs farm-licensed cotton plus the CoC rules that apply to that gin. Do not use this agriculture slug as the mill’s CoC page.

Does Better Cotton farm licensing mean the cotton is organic?

No. P&C restrict and manage crop-protection and other practices; they do not require organic conversion or organic-only inputs. Organic cotton is a different claim and a different certificate. Some farms hold both; most Better Cotton volume is not organic. Do not print GOTS or “organic cotton” on farm Better Cotton licensing.

Who is certified—the individual smallholder or the Producer Unit?

Smallholders are typically grouped in a Producer Unit with an implementing partner and internal management. The PU is the unit that is licensed against P&C; not every smallholder holds a personal ISO-style certificate. Large farms may be licensed as a different producer type. Buyers should ask for the PU / licence identity that matches the seed-cotton delivery, not a farmer’s name on a photo.

Can we put a Better Cotton logo on a T-shirt with only farm licensing?

No. On-product claims follow Better Cotton CoC and claims rules along the supply chain after the farm. Farm licensing creates eligible farm volume; it does not replace gin, merchant, mill, and brand CoC. Physical versus mass-balance claims are decided in CoC, not by reprinting the P&C certificate on a hangtag.

What to have ready before the audit

• Producer Unit (or large-farm) profile: farmers, area, villages, and implementing partner
• P&C evidence: crop-protection records, water and soil practices, decent-work indicators, management plan
• Internal management system of the PU: training, internal assessment, and corrective actions
• Seed-cotton delivery records linking farmers / PU to the first buyer (gin)
• Volume declaration process into the Better Cotton platform at farm / PU level
• A written split: this file is P&C; any gin or mill claim sits in the CoC programme

Frequent findings

• Using farm P&C licensing as if it were mill or brand chain of custody
• Calling Better Cotton “organic cotton” in offers to textile buyers
• Seed-cotton sold as Better Cotton from farmers not in the licensed PU
• Confusing this slug (better-cotton-initiative-bci-1) with the textile CoC slug (better-cotton-initiative-bci)
• Hangtags printed from farm licence documents without CoC claim eligibility