The past, present + future of regenerative fibres.
A conversation on the past, present and future of regenerative fibres as part of the Threads of Change festival in London, October 2023.
Moderated by Ashna Patel of Khadi London, this conversation brought up topics not usually considered in those on regenerative fibres. This is a new, yet not-so-new space, and most discussions revolve around environmental or social impact in regards to the materials themselves, and otherwise infrastructure. This is the first time I’ve experienced together the discussion points of policy, legal action and cultural equity as key components in the future of this industry.
This article formulates reflections from the panellists’ comments to highlight those key components often missed out of conversations on “regenerative fibres”.
Threads of Change 2023.
Artist Tajender Sagoo in the main exhibition room of the Threads of Change regenerative fibre festival at the Nehru Centre, London. [Credit: Khadi London]
Panellists:
→ Claire O’Sullivan is a studio jeweller and co-founder of Contemporary Hempery. Her interest is in the place where art and commerce meet, and in processes that take raw material to product.
→ Allan Brown is an artist living and working in Brighton, East Sussex. Allan works with sustainable fibres like nettles, flax, hemp and wool as well as using foraged and allotment-grown dye plants to reflect the local landscape and context.
→ Tajender Sagoo is an artist and weaver based in London. Her practice uses textiles in relationship with film, text, print, community and research with an interdisciplinary approach. Her ongoing project Pop Samiti delves into the cultural impact of neoliberal development policies on South Asia and the world.
→ Asim Sarode is legal practitioner, trainer and writer specialising in socio-legal, human rights and environmental issues. Having worked and travelled extensively in cotton growing areas of Maharashtra, he has firsthand knowledge of issues confronting the cotton farmers of the Vidharbha region. Asim has done pioneering work at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of India, a specified court dealing with issues related to environment, ecology and biodiversity.
History and semantics.
Regenerative.
First up, what is regenerative? Dependent on background, experience, culture, career… and many other attributes, this term “regenerative” is ultimately going to mean different things. For Tajender this was anything that can be re-used, and for Claire this was growing and supporting hemp. This comment from Ashna struck me and so wrote it verbatim, that “not enough people know the true meaning of regenerative”. I find it jarring; I guess because to me it sounds like the adage of sustainability, that it’s better to have more people doing it incorrectly than few people doing it correctly.
And this I’m uncertain of: whether we should be making the effort to “do things properly” or not at all. With ‘regenerative’, it’s a new term in people’s minds, and so it’ll take time to find common ground. And yet, is common ground what we need — as with ‘sustainability’. In order to find a footing (and therefore the “true meaning”), we collectively have to experiment with the things from our experience and knowledge. A diversity, an inclusion.
Background.
To move forward, we need context. For the cotton industry this is recognising that it’s a commodity with a history of slavery, control, and manipulation. Asim is a lawyer from a cotton farming family, who uses his practice to take action against pesticides. Coming from an area known as the ‘farmer suicide belt’, Maharastra in India is a key cotton producing district where there are 5000 farmer suicides a month. Asim has the awareness and experience to be best placed to campaign for policy change.
Allan spoke of his work to engage local councils (and residents) in the unseen benefits of allotments, Claire of her space in encouraging hemp-growing and processing, and Tajender of her life in the British colony of Kenya, particularly during the Emergency 1950 – 1960 and the Mau Mau liberation struggle.
It takes all of these experiences to move towards more-regenerative-over-extractive systems. Unsurprisingly, we have to review the past, and consider where we are presently, in order to have a future.
Legal barriers.
Pesticides.
Asim told of insight into the pesticide industry; that the Indian government had indeed banned 3 of the 40 pesticides (and only 3), but because the pesticide manufacturer had already produced them, they were authorised to sell the remaining stock before a proper ban. He is advocating for policy change to the following:
Equipment when pesticides are sold (regards to PPE and safety, I think)
A fixed market price for any agricultural product (which cotton currently doesn’t have)
Special quotes (for improving access to food; 70% of food produced in India isn’t for domestic consumption)
Supporting initiatives that defend farmers’ rights
Licensing.
Claire spoke to the licensing involved with hemp growing; that although it isn’t especially hard or costly to gain a license from the Home Office, there are certain barriers (such as being near a road, and what you’ll use the crop for). She is working to influence policy and farmers, in particular through the Green Party. Softening of the licensing could encourage more farmers to even trial hemp, perhaps as a cover (transition) crop.
Images: 1. During the Tudor era it was mandatory to grow hemp. Every 60 acres of land that was farmed required ¼ acre of hemp with it, ensuring that the supply of hemp fibre remained steady [Sensi Seeds]; 2. Kodinar, Gujarat, India. 2019 — A Better Cotton Farmer, Vala Gopalbhai Nathabha, getting dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) before applying pesticides [Better Cotton/Vibhor Yadav].
(Hyper)Local.
Allan’s personal experience in renting an allotment was the most insightful for me. Each council has an allotted amount of land for rent as allotments (hence the name!) following on from the Enclosure Acts that saw the abolition of the open field system of agriculture in England from 1604 to 1914 [read about the history of enclosure in Britain via this article from The Land Magazine].
At least for the Brighton & Hove council that Allan resides in (believe it’s this one), there is a push to highlight financial deficits caused by allotment rentals (i.e. £20,000) and the disrepair they’re in, and so the push to close them. Yet, there are unseen benefits to the local councils that are not included in reports, for instance, reduction in plastic pollution from not shopping in supermarkets, reduction in loneliness, and improvement to social cohesion — all of which save council funds.
There is a higher labour cost involved with managing your own space and growing food, though from this is a higher return because you as a user want to get out what you put in. With the relationship to fibre under discussion, Allan highlights the disparity between what you may be able to grow and what you may be able to process (which actually relates to food gluts too). A connection to the fibre, to the land, and to each other (particularly in a sharing economy) becomes clearer under a hyperlocal setting.
Images: 1. A Hackney allotment, East London [Hackney Allotment Society]; 2. Drone photo, birds eye top down view of allotments in Prenton, Wirral UK during April lockdown 2021 [Phil Kiel on Unsplash].
Cultural exchange and equity.
Intellectual support.
If knowledge is not exchanged, it will be lost. As farming families become less generational, the inherent context is also lost. In some respects it can be useful to start from scratch, particularly if “the way things are done and have always been done” thought remains. Yet, historic records are useful to understand what has worked and what hasn’t worked, even if anecdotal rather than data-specific. And technology is a path to progression, whether traditional farmers and growers choose to accept it. For example, accurate weather-forecasting via implementation of balloons (precision farming), or drone reportage of changing landscapes. [Read more from McKinsey’s article on how technology can yield new growth]. Knowledge exchange ultimately requires an openness and willingness to learn, regardless of your current views.
There was a remark from Claire about not forcing Indian farmers to do the work when we can do it ourselves, which perhaps I wasn’t entirely clear on the context of. It followed on from Tajender exploring the narrative of ensuring equity at the forefront of any collaboration, an interdisciplinary approach that weaves history, economics and creativity together. As it was under a question about hyperlocalism, I take it as a comment in relation to improving structures and systems closer to home, rather than exporting our wants into scenarios that have their own challenges (landscape and cultural context).
Images: 1. A ‘smart irrigation’ system [JavaTPoint]; 2. Community husbandry at Rancho Las Palmas, California [Paige Green for Fibershed].
Consumption.
This point considers how we’re active participants when we purchase or use something, whether observed or likely instead, unobserved.
Tajender acknowledges that there is a cultural exchange when we consume, presumably regardless of whether it is local or imported, because there is always a chain of inspiration and of materials and labour. She states how fibre is always a product of imperialism, again presumably even if it is a new source or created locally; that even if the fibre was not created within an imperialist system, its history comes from that. This needs to be recognised by the consumer and by the maker; can we regenerate without all the necessary parts?
Claire reflected on how there are 67 million people in the UK (now close to 68), and if we only each purchased a pair of socks each year, that is a lot of yarn. Though small and local fibre industries — such as hemp and flax — are useful for shifting systems, the fact remains that we still consume too many textiles. The inputs associated with mechanical processing of these fibres is a major barrier to scaling up, and this then leads again to the question surrounding scale: should we be scaling?
It’s fairly difficult to disseminate such a variety of comments and conversations, even when only from a half hour discussion. Hopefully the above has highlighted key considerations in regards to the past, present and future of regenerative fibres, so that you go away now with a variety of angles in which you can address the challenges of the fibre industry — and beyond to food, and land, and activism.
You may like to read other articles on regenerative fibres and textiles:
Regenerative bast fibres at Groundswell.
Mother Goddess of the Three Realms.
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