Native Colored Cotton Rescue Project in Mexico

Mexico is the country of origin of Gossypium hirsutum, which is the species of cotton used in 95% of the world´s production. The Costa Chica of Oaxaca is one of the 11 sub-sites of origin in Mexico where wild and cultivated, native cotton are still found. Farmers and artisans in this region have been cultivating several colors of native cotton for nearly 5,000 years. A handful of artisans still use traditional methods such as the drop spindle and backstrap loom to create textiles from native colored cotton.

Ñu’u Ndito (living Earth in Mixteco) is a group of 25 farmers in six different municipios in the Costa Chica growing and conserving native colored cotton along with native corn and other food crops. The work began in 2011 with the dual purpose of learning alternative, sustainable farming practices and rescuing native cotton for use by artisans who identify with the colored fiber it provides.

In 2018 it was brought to their attention that the cotton might be contaminated with GMOs. They entered into collaboration with Dr. Ana Wegier, a molecular biologist at Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM) who tested the seeds. Unfortunately, she found GMO contamination. So, in 2023 a greenhouse  was constructed a at Centro de Aprendizaje Rural en Tecnologías Apropiadas (CATA) de la Universidad de Chapingo, in the region where Ñu’u Ndito works, as a living seed bank of four distinct colors, where they aregrowing out the cotton plants that tested negative for GMOs at the UNAM laboratory in Mexico City. As of May 2025, 34,000 GMO-free seeds have been harvested from the greenhouse and are being distributed to the Ñu’u Ndito farmers.

In recognition of this daunting and important work, Ñu’u Ndito recently received one of the awards pertaining to the 2025 Spring Prize for regenerative agriculture given by Lush Cosmetics. This years’ Spring Prize competition received over600 applications, which were whittled down to a shortlist of 58 and a final list of 19 winners. Over 30 countries are represented in the shortlist with applications from every continent (except Antarctica). All shortlisted and final results can be explored on the Spring Prize website: springprize.org

A portion of the prize money will go towards continuing work with native seed conservation. This includes two experimental plots at CATA, which are being monitored for plant performance based on color varieties, agroecological methods for pest deterrence and a multi-year comparison between annual and perennial crops documenting the corresponding incidence of GMO re-contamination by pollinators. All of the work is leading up to the goal of replacing all of the current seed stock of Ñu’u Ndito farmers with clean seeds originating from the greenhouse, with the maximum of genetic diversity possible (minus transgenes of course).

It is not only important to conserve these genetically diverse native cotton seeds in their site of origin it also goes hand in hand with protecting the health of the region’s insect populations. By reducing the incidence of GMO contamination in the form of herbicide and Bt resistance we reduce the likelihood of illness and death to a variety of insects who are important to local wild and cultivated plants’ life cycles. Alternatively, the GMO events cause death to a variety of insects within two generations of ingesting the Bt infused material.

Now that it has been proven that clean seeds can be produced in this manner, the next step is to build a small greenhouse in each community where there is a Ñu’u Ndito farmer field school. Thus, the farmers can manage the living seed banks, decentralizing the responsibility and returning the power of managing their own seeds to the communities.

With many years of ground work via farmer training and technical assistance in the field, Ñu’u Ndito has formed a producer’s cooperative. This stems from the convictionthat regenerative farming is the only way forward for local food security and food sovereignty, environmental protection and a better chance for human health, especially for the farmers’ own families. Having a legitimate organization also bodes well for improving economic conditions for the members and their associates.

Topics in agroecology brought farmers to the trainings, but it has been the guaranteed sale of the cotton to Khadi Oaxaca (produced ecologically) that has been the fulcrum for the adoption of ecological practices by individual farmers and the basis for the establishment of a cooperative. One of the mandates of the cooperative is to increase the number of farmers who practice regenerative farming in the region along with developing a commercial enterprise that will support the farmer field schools and the expansion of GMO-free native cotton production.

At this point in human history, with textile production and fast fashion standards having created one of the most toxic industries on the planet, ever, industrial agriculture continuing to be one of the primary drivers of the climate crisis and unceasing globalization steadily erasing rural places and local identities, a project like this gives us an opportunity to reflect on the fact that of a small group of people, rising to a seemingly impossible and unjust challenge in a marginalized region can achieve meaningful results, which benefit their families, their communities and their environment.

The work of Ñu’u Ndito and their allies demonstrates the hope and scope of Regenerative Agriculture. A full circle is drawn starting with native seeds, cultivated by traditional farmers in the site of origin using agroecological practices, working in association with academics and artisan-business partners, to create an end-product which is used by localartisans to carry on making traditional and innovative textiles with ancestral technology, preserving cultural identity and culminating in the generation of income for everyone involved so that they can continue farming, studying, spinning and weaving.

You can support the Ñu’u Ndito coop and the clean-seed program via Gofundme:
English/USD: https://gofund.me/f390f0ea
Español/pesos: https://gofund.me/3ac0ef27

Find more information on Ñu’u Ndito here.
Obtain more information: [email protected]

All photos by Margaret Mac Sems.