Syntropic agriculture is a process-based form of farming that seeks to mimic (and harness)
ecosystem dynamics. While it shares many overlaps with (and is both indebted to and inspired by)
indigenous forest gardening, tropical homegardens, permaculture’s food forests, holistic grazing,
and agroforestry more generally, the specific framework, language and techniques come out of
Brazil and the work of Ernst Götsch (below), CEPEAS and many others.
Why do we need it?
Syntropic agriculture emerges in response to our industrialised input-based model of farming. Industrial farming requires constant external inputs: synthetic nitrogen, mined rock phosphate etc. But despite its prevalence, problems abound with this model. It costs a lot financially (with sharp increases in price of late), straining farmers already caught between predatory banks and a supermarket duopoly that systematically underpays growers. Input-based techniques have also encouraged an approach to farming that costs a lot ecologically, from biodiversity loss to soil compaction, declining fertility, polluted rivers, cancer-causing nitrates in drinking water, significant methane and carbon emissions etc etc.
Key takeaway: industrial agriculture is entropic. It uses more energy to make a loaf of bread than you can get from eating that loaf.
In contrast, syntropic agriculture is designed to generate the fertility you need to grow crops internally, planting a range of support species that are pruned regularly to provide mulch and ‘pulse’ sunlight and growth hormone through your system, actually improving your ecosystem’s fertility over time. As a pleasant bonus, syntropic agriculture actively stores carbon at one of the highest [scientifically measured] levels: 4.45 tons of carbon per hectare per year, compared with 0.63 tons/ha/year for [the rightly celebrated but less effective] rotational grazing (Hawken, 2017). In this model of farming, the main inputs are knowledge and labour. This PDF guide helps with the first!