The cotton kick

Kanjibhai Gopalbhai Bhojak, cotton farmer

We have been working as farmers for many generations. Our family farms its own land – a total of 2.6 hectares of cotton fields. That’s our livelihood. I had reservations about switching to organic farming to start with because of the lower yields.

But then we saw that this change means that our overall costs are lower, mainly because we no longer buy artificial pesticides. The soil also has more nutrients and is not as hard. It can store rainwater much more effectively, which means that I don’t need to irrigate it as much.

Cotton production is not the only area where we have seen positive impacts. The quality of the food we eat is much better too. We know this because we plant vegetables in our fields for our own consumption.

Either my son or I have taken part in all the training sessions offered by the From Field to Fan Shop project, which means that someone in the family always got the important information. My wife Jamnaben is also involved. She took part in training sessions on catch crops and border crops and now knows all about the soil nutrient levels and soil quality required to meet organic standards.

I’m really very satisfied and am now convinced that it was a good idea to switch to organic farming, which is why I would like to continue and to ensure that even more people receive training. It’s not enough for just a few people to farm their land sustainably. The transition needs to happen on a broad scale to secure positive results.

Manjulaben Narayanbhai Prajapati, cotton farmer

Cotton is our life. We are farmers, just like our ancestors were. My husband Jaisangbhai and I work together: we sow, irrigate, weed and pick cotton. The only thing I do not do is operate a tractor. We have switched to organic farming.

We already knew beforehand that it is important to conserve our natural resources, but the training sessions taught us how to make organic fertilisers ourselves instead of using chemical ones, for example. We now use the resources that nature provides. Dashparni Ark is an organic insecticide containing various leaves, ginger and turmeric, for example.

Our life is not easy. There are lots of challenges in farming that are beyond our control, such as the weather or animals that eat the plants. But the new way of farming means that we can save money; the methods are standardised and make sense. We want to continue producing sustainable cotton.

Mina Vora, Vertreterin der lokalen Bauernkooperative

Unsere Kooperative Rapar & Dhrangadhra Farmers Producer Company (RDFC) unterstützt Bäuerinnen und Bauern, die bei der Initiative „Vom Feld in den Fanshop“ mitmachen: von der Aussaat bis zum Verkauf der Baumwolle.

Die Umstellung auf biologische Produktion beginnt mit gentechnikfreiem Qualitätssaatgut. Daher verteilen wir Saatgut, um die Einhaltung der ökologischen Standards gewährleisten zu können. Um noch mehr Bäuerinnen und Bauern von der Umstellung zu überzeugen, ist die garantierte Abnahme von „Baumwolle in Umstellung“ wichtig.

Unsere Bemühungen tragen Früchte: Wir stellen fest, dass mehr Baumwollfarmer*innen durch unsere Trainings motiviert werden, die Felder natürlich zu bearbeiten. Ich ermutige alle, weiter in diese Richtung zu gehen. Es ist aber wichtig, dass die Bäuerinnen und Bauern auch über den ersten Projektzeitraum bis 2025 hinaus weiter unterstützt werden.

Denn für einkommensschwache Kleinbäuerinnen und -bauern bedeutet die Umstellung ein hohes wirtschaftliches Risiko. Bei einigen ist die Erntemenge auch nach der dreijährigen Umstellungsphase noch reduziert – auch, weil sie von äußeren Bedingungen wie der Wassermenge abhängen.

Rabea Schafrick, Head of Sustainability at Brands Fashion

Since late 2023, fan merchandise from the From Field to Fan Shop initiative has been part of the collections of all nine clubs taking part in the project, including the T-shirt with the slogan ‘Die Straße trägt St. Pauli’ (‘The street wears St. Pauli’), the Hamburger SV ‘red trousers’ hoodie (one of the club’s nicknames because of their red shorts) and the ‘Cannstatt History’ T-shirt of VfB Stuttgart, named after the the city borough where the club is based. For us as textile manufacturers, the impetus for the initiative came during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, suppliers reported that there was no more organic cotton on the market. Less than two per cent of global cotton production is certified as organic. We researched alternatives and came across ‘in-conversion cotton’.

If we want to have more organic cotton on the market, we have to play our part in supporting the smallholder farmers in the Global South as they make the transition from conventional to organic cotton production. The BMZ initiative fits in well here. And many of our long-standing football customers have supported this move too.

This kind of transition requires patience – from everyone involved. From our point of view, we would welcome it if the project were to be continued beyond 2025. We are currently holding talks with the clubs about a second phase of the initiative. Other clubs have now also shown an interest. Fair and sustainable production of fan merchandise goes well with the idea of fairness in football.

Catharina Fricke, Head of Merchandising, FC St. Pauli

Sustainable fan merchandising has been an important topic at FC St. Pauli for more than 15 years, and we have been working with Brands Fashion for a very long time now, so it was an easy decision for us to get involved in the From Field to Fan Shop project.

It is important that lots of different clubs team up to support this fantastic project. In terms of merchandising, we’re all ultimately doing the same thing and together we can drive progress, like Hamburger SV and FC St. Pauli are doing.

At the beginning of 2023, we set off together to visit the cotton-growing region of Gujarat to find out more about the everyday conditions there and the processes at the start of the textile supply chain. As football clubs, we have a huge responsibility because we have a very large reach and can use our considerable influence to draw attention to the topic of sustainability.

That is why continuity is so important. It is also what our fans expect. It is important to us that the From Field to Fan Shop project continues and that we take an even closer look at what the people in the cotton-growing regions need.

Sascha Steinbrück, Head of Merchandising, HSV

For us, both pillars of the From Field to Fan Shop project are important: firstly, supporting the smallholder farmers in moving from conventional to organic cotton production and secondly, supporting children and young people in cotton-growing regions by providing opportunities for sports and education.

We need to join forces to implement a comprehensive approach of this kind. It would be impossible without a partner like Brands Fashion, a manufacturer we have been working with in the sustainable textiles sector for some time now.

It is also important for the clubs to pull together, as we are doing with FC St. Pauli. I don’t see any rivalry in merchandising. On the contrary, we have an open dialogue. After all, a Hamburger SV fan wouldn’t wear a T-shirt with St. Pauli’s skull and crossbones logo, and a St. Pauli fan wouldn’t wear a jumper with HSV’s diamond logo.

But together, we can achieve something in the field of sustainability, especially now that the topic is perhaps not such a priority within society. We need to stay on the ball and pursue a strategy. In the colourful world of football in which we operate, the top-flight clubs can play a role here.