Event presented the sustainability of cotton to people connected to art and fashion
Crop AgroComunicação | Agroligadas Assessoria
More than 50 guests connected to fashion, art, communication, and digital influence participated in the Rural Cotton Tourism, promoted by the Agroligadas movement, at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida farm, in Campo Verde. The event took place last Wednesday (08.24) and provided an immersion in the day-to-day cotton production, from harvesting and processing to the transformation of the fiber into yarn. The main objective is the correct communication about the production and sustainability of the production of the raw material most used by the textile industry.
Organized by the board of Agroligadas, the event was supported by the Mato Grosso Association of Cotton Producers (AMPA) and partnerships with the Sou de Algodão Movement and the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (Abrapa). On the occasion, Abrapa’s Executive Director, Marcio Portocarrero, disclosed the unprecedented Brazilian Responsible Cotton Program (SouABR), which allows for large-scale traceability of the national textile chain. He also talked about the broad sustainability of cotton production. The participants were also able to enjoy the exhibition of arts made of cotton from the Ateliê Casa Comigo, run by artisan Marli and by Judith, from the Limpo Grande Mower Association.
Renowned international designer of her own brand, Martha Medeiros was present and was even more enchanted by the cotton product, as she got to know its production chain up close. The fashion entrepreneur reinforced the passion she has always had for handmade lace – traditional Brazilian handicrafts, and especially those from the Northeast of Brazil – making it her main raw material.
“I am in love with cotton lace, with cotton fabric, I can only work with cotton, it is the air I breathe, because cotton for me is affection, a cotton garment is a garment that makes you feel affection. Today, here, at the Cotton Rural Tourism, it is a very special day for me, because I came to know what is behind those clothes, I already imagined and knew them through movies, but being here and knowing them personally, you pick a cotton flower, see the bales, get to know the farm, how well the collaborators are treated, this generates wealth for our Brazil. I end my day grateful to Agroligadas and immensely happy”, Martha Medeiros pointed out.
Fashion blogger Mariah Bernardes Maia was delighted with the project developed by Agroligadas. For the famous digital influencer, the Agroligadas Cotton Country Tour was ideal to unite production with fashion.
“To get to know the cotton plantation, a raw material that is so useful for the fashion segment in Brazil and in the world, and to closely follow the entire process until it reaches the closet was an incredible experience for me. What a beautiful team of Agroligadas women, strong, intelligent, working professionals in the field. It was a great pleasure to be here and show my followers how agro is related to the cities and to fashion,” said Mariah.
The journalist and digital influencer Hugo Rodrigues tells that despite living in a rural property, in Alta Floresta, he doesn’t have daily contact with agriculture. And he guaranteed that he will take the information he experienced at the event to his city and to his followers. “We are connected in everything, agro is in us. It was incredible to get to know a little bit of this practice in the field, from the harvest to the transformation into yarn, how the cotton needs care and ways to be conducted until it reaches us,” said Hugo.
The designer Maria Fernanda Meirelles, who uses fabrics as the raw material for her work, for the first time had direct contact with the entire cotton production chain. “I work with sustainable fashion and I was amazed by everything I experienced in practice, with the excellent organization, with the concern for the environment, with the care with the farm’s employees. What surprised me the most was the way the producers know how to deal with the raw material in the field, and especially with the entire process, from the field to the processing and spinning,” said Maria Fernanda.
A long-awaited presence, the Goian stylist Theo Alexandre, designer of the brand Thear, which creates its pieces from natural fibers with a focus on cotton, exhibited his new collection that was presented through a film at the São Paulo Fashion Week. “I work with sustainable fibers, and cotton is at the top of my list. And showing my art for the first time here in Mato Grosso, on a farm that produces cotton adds a lot to me. My fashion is about people, and seeing up close the people responsible for this whole process made all the difference. I appreciate the invitation and the opportunity that the Agroligadas movement has given me”, thanked Theo.
The Rural Cotton Tourism is part of the activities carried out by the Agroligadas movement that intends to bring people from the most varied sectors closer to the agribusiness activities. The intention is to reinforce the positive image of agribusiness, to spread and give even more visibility to the sector among groups that are outside the farm gate, as the event organizer and Agroligadas president Geni Schenkel explains.
“We are taking agribusiness far away. We have given information about the cotton production to guests who have no direct contact with this environment, and we could see their surprise and satisfaction. My heart is overflowing with love and joy because our objective was fulfilled, to take information about the sustainability of cotton”, Geni evaluated.
The Rural Cotton Tourism had the support of Cooperfibra, Algodoeira Princesa, Tama Brasil, and concessionaire Domani Prime, and was sponsored by FMC Agrícola, John Deere – Revenda Agrobaggio, Iguaçu Máquinas, Aster Máquinas, Primavera Máquinas, Agro Amazônia, Sicredi, Valtra Brasil, Fendt, Sumitomo, Chemical Brasil, CHDS do Brasil, and Ouro Fino Agro.
Agroligadas – The movement is formed by professional women in agribusiness and its purpose is to connect the countryside and the city with truth, ethics, courage, commitment, and love, through educational and communication actions. It shows that agro is in everything, everywhere, and in everyone’s day-to-day life.
