Support
0
Your Cart
0
Your Cart

Farmer Enrichment Program© U.S.

To answer to regional and national farmer and supply chain obstacles, we formed the B.L.A.C.Kollective (Black land agroecology cotton-farmer collective). The BLACKollective© is a member-based solution to collectively addressing the challenges that our US Black cotton farmers face–resources, market, and non-extractive relationships that connect them to textile and apparel sectors in a way that honors people, land, and institution building reclaiming our connection to these spaces in the Black community.

Learn More

Black Supply Chain Ecosystems

Learn More
The Kollective connects Black cotton farmers to Seed2Shirts’ rebuilding, reclaiming, and restoring of Black-empowered vertically integrated cotton -to textile & apparel production ecosystems.

Black Owned Cotton Merchant

Learn More
B.L.A.C.Kollective goes beyond your typical “farmer & cotton merchant” or “farmer & cotton marketing co-op” models. Seed2Shirt exclusively advocates and represents BLACKollective farmers while working directly with curated Mills and Brands that are committed to sourcing Climate Beneficial™ cotton.

Climate Beneficial Verification

Learn More
The Climate Beneficial™ Fiber program is designed to scale the implementation of carbon farming practices and verified through Fibershed and now Seed2Shirt team – as the Southeast implementation partner and lead. Each year producers operationalize their Carbon Farm Plan and implement new beneficial carbon farming practices and provide continual improvement on existing practices.

Farmer Enrichment Services

Learn More
We provide wrap-around Farmer Enrichment program services to growers within the Kollective this includes; Training & Implementation Assistance, Farm Resiliency Workshops, and Funding and Tool support. Access to Co-marketing Opportunity alongside the Kollective.

Want to Join the BLACKollective or Source?

Basic BLACKollective Member

Gain access to our "Empowerment Resources"
JOIN KOLLECTIVE

Premium BLACKollective Member

Empowerment Resources +
Merchant Services & Price Premiums
JOIN KOLLECTIVE

Farmer Co-Op

We're a Farmer Co-op or Farmer group and we're interested in getting the word out to our Members
Edit Content

Farmer Co-Op Interest

If you are a Farmer CO-OP or “Group” that represents farmers, and you want to get this opportunity in front of your farmers. We want to hear from you. We’d be happy to do a presentation to your farm group, or collaborate with your group to routinely get the word out. 

Company Representative or Micro-designer

I'm interested in Sourcing from the B.L.A.C.Kollective
Edit Content

BLACKollective Sourcing Interest

Fill out the form below, and we will be in touch.

Edit Content
  • Complete  application form
  • Complete Cotton Merchant Service Agreement (Premium)
  • Complete Production Contact 
  • Identify & Plan Acreage of Implementation
  • Allow Our Team Access to Conduct Soil Sampling
  • Implement Climate Beneficial™ Practices
  • Track & Report Confirm Your Practices Annually
  • Participate in Routine / Update Exchanges
  • Allow Cotton Sample for Spec. Testing Annually (Premium)
  • Membership Renewed Annually
Edit Content

The Climate Beneficial™ Cotton program is designed to scale the implementation of carbon farming practices and verified through Fibershed and now Seed2Shirt team – as the Southeast implementation partner and lead. Producers annually implement carbon farming practices and report the details of their practices. Practice implementation data is used to calculate estimations for the climate impact of each practice using regional peer-reviewed research and/or COMET Planner, an open-source carbon drawdown modeling tool. Carbon metrics for each farm and ranch are aggregated and tracked in a backend database, which allows us to provide up-to-date greenhouse gas measurements to our partners who are utilizing Climate Beneficial fiber (cotton and wool). 

To become fully Climate Beneficial Verified, producers have a formal Carbon Farm Plan written for their land and operations. This is a comprehensive planning process developed by the Carbon Cycle Institute that involves farm and ranch soil mapping, site analysis, an extensive evaluation of all potential opportunities for additional carbon capture, and quantification of the carbon impacts of these potential practices. Farmers gain access to a technical service provider who will work with them to write a Carbon Farm Plan.

The Carbon Farm Plan functions as a road map for land stewards to follow. Each year producers operationalize their Carbon Farm Plan and implement new beneficial carbon farming practices and provide continual improvement on existing practices. 

Edit Content

How Companies Participate:

Companies participating in the Kollective are paying a premium for cotton and a coalition fee for pre-competitive textile development, storytelling, and educational services. Companies are our partners in real change in landscape and opportunity for Black Cotton farmers’ parity participation in this space. A premium cotton price allows economically viable on-farm changes while incentivizing future acreage transition to these soil-building, climate-beneficial farming practices.

Benefits of Companies Joining:

  • Education - farm tours and webinars
  • Collaborative Marketing + Storytelling Support
  • Pre-competitive Textile Development
  • Access to purchasing cotton from farm partners
Edit Content

 What happens after I complete the “ I’m Interested form”?

      • When you complete the I’m interested in joining the BLACKollective form, you will have an “Interested Producer” meeting with our team to answer all questions and go over the basics of the membership package you will receive.

What does the membership package include?

      • The membership package will detail all the program participation benefits/requirements.

What happens after I complete the “Membership Package”?

      • Your membership package is followed by: a Producer MOU/contract

What does the producer MOU/Contract include?

      • The producer MOU/contract outlines the key things such as practices to implement, cost of implementation worksheet, reporting parameters, price premium detail, etc. It will also include our cotton merchant service agreement.

Can I cancel my membership?

      • Yes, you can cancel your membership at any time with 72hr notification. If you’ve already completed your producer MOU/contract it will be subject to the cancellation parameters outlined.

What’s the difference between the BLACKollective & The Climate Beneficial USDA Project?

      • The “USDA Climate Smart Commodities” project is an opportunity for farmers to transition and have institutional support to implement new practices, which will help with greenhouse gas reduction. It is an added resource available to farmers separate and distinct from the BLACKollective. It’s only a 5-year project and focuses on the reduction of Greenhouse Gas mission and tracking that over the 5yr project span. It does not include; our textile value chain curated committed cotton purchase brands, our institutional textile partners, spec/test support, our free merchant services, our Seed Fund, our Equipment resource services, nor our resiliency workshops. Also please reference the program over pages for each.

On the member profile page, am I giving up ownership of my brand/image and likeness?

      • No, in fact, the opposite, you retain ownership and we highlight your farm and your farm story. Also on any textile product -that is produced from BLACKollective member’s cotton, your brand/farm profile is promoted and highlighted. Please see the member and Producer MOU/contract for more information.

For the cotton that I grow in a Climate Beneficial™ method, how will I sell it?

      • (Premium) This is why we embed our merchant services with the membership because we pre-commit or work to pre-sale all Climate Beneficial™ grown cotton. We act as the merchant so you don’t have to worry about de-risking the transition even further. This is all outlined in our MOU/Producer contract and Membership package.