The basics of Syntropic farming

Over the last couple of years Syntropic Agriculture is gaining ground in temperate climates on the European continent. In our previous article we described the background of syntropic farming and listed 8 main principles.

In this article we tell you more about the first four:

• Maximize photosynthesis?
• Mimic natural succession and stratification
• Prune to optimize photosynthesis and natural succession
• Synchronize plantings to the phase of ecological succession the site is in

?? Maximizing Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is the main syntropic process in the planet, most beings depend on it directly or indirectly. It is the process that sustains life on earth, the way in which energy is accumulated and life self organizes. Combustion is the main entropic process, in which energy dissipates and life disorganizes, being decomposition a good example. Both processes are needed for functioning ecosystems, but a positive balance is essential for life to flourish and evolve. A positive balance is achieved by producing more resources than consuming.

In syntropic agroforestry this is achieved by (a) planting a highly dense diversity of plants with different life cycles, (b) occupying all strata (vertical space plants naturally occupy according to their sunlight demand) to photosynthese at maximum rates, (c) generating more organic matter than the system can burn and (d) intervening and causing the disturbance needed for the system' continuous dynamics.

?? Mimic natural succession and stratification

Ecological succession occurs in phases according to how ecosystems develop their complexity, diversity and fertility. These phases are: colonization, accumulation and abundance. These phases can be understood as the long-term planet evolutionary phases. Humans and other larger animals belong to the abundance phase, where there is enough energy and life to produce food that Homo Sapiens need. They have several functions such as to create disturbance in the environment (by pruning, putting dead trees down to the ground, etc), and dispersing seeds, for example. And this disturbance is what makes the system dynamic and rejuvenates forests and ecosystems.

Agroecological systems operate at the abundance phase, needing fertile soils and highly diversified soil life to produce grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, fiber, medicine, wood, and animals. The dynamic aspect of forests and living systems is what ensures fertility and abundance. In static agroecological systems, on the other hand, keeping a system at the abundance phase implies needing a continuous input of fertility from outside (for example, using compost piles).

Syntropic systems are designed to achieve the abundance system - specially when a system is started in high degraded soils, bearing species that belong to the accumulation phase. And overtime create and generate all the fertility on site. By carefully selecting locally adapted plants of different life cycles that perform the functions needed to improve the life conditions to the next generation of more complex and fertility demanding plants, the syntropic farmer is bringing the system into an abundance state. We see these locally adapted plants as support plant species, and this can be grasses, herbs, bushes and trees. When pruning these support plants at the right time, a pulse of growth hormones is triggered, more light passes through the system increasing the target crops’?photosynthesis capacity and growth, and the soil is covered and replenished by the organic matter organized underneath the plants.?

?? Prune to optimize photosynthesis and natural succession

Pruning is a planned disturbance. The syntropic farmer actively intervenes in the system mimicking what a weather event or a large wild animal would do. In other words: syntropic farmers act by fulfilling their original function in the ecosystem.

The same way a storm might fell a tree or cut down branches opening space in a forest, the syntropic farmer prunes support vegetation in the system, opening for light and putting organic matter down in contact to the soil, and triggering the release of root exudates. These root exudates are at a peak during flowering and stop at seeding phase. Once a plant is producing seeds, growth slows down and begins what is known as senescence period. When plants are in senescence, they send information to the system to slow down, stalling neighboring plants’ growth. To avoid this effect and support the vitality and growth of the Syntropic Agroforestry system, the farmer cuts plants at the end of flowering, right before seeds start to develop. This timely prune resets the plants and sends growth information to the rest of the system. Timely pruning aims to keep the support species in a vegetative state as much time as possible.?

A syntropic farmer prunes to catalyze life processes observing that the pruned plants are in harmony with themselves, by maintaining a balanced crown shape; and that plants are in harmony with each other, by maintaining the appropriate spatial relationship and light requirements of each plant in respect to the others and to the system. Each layer (strata) of the syntropic agroforestry system is occupied to maximize photosynthesis. A good stratification in a syntropic system implies understanding what are the light needs of each plant at the different stages of their life cycle and pruning according to this information.??

?? Synchronize plantings to the phase of ecological succession the site is in

Depending on the context, it might be a better option to design a system that accumulates energy in the first couple of years, and after that a new system design would come in place with the desired species for productions and support. In the case of semi-arid and arid soils, where life has been almost depleted, the syntropic farmer will observe which species are growing there naturally and try to infer whether it is smarter to allow this species to intensively (in high density) do their function for a couple of years, and then after this period the farmer would do a drastic reset to then plant the new design with new selected species.

When planting the desired long-term design, the farmer will take into account the building up of energy and the bridging of systems that the farm will go through (example, bridging from an accumulation phase to abundance phase). The selected group of species (consortia) will change overtime, and this change is what we call "conduction of succession" of a system.

Mostly commonly although is that a syntropic system gets planted already on year 1 with the final desired design in mind. The planting material may include transplants, cuttings, seeds, bare-root stock trees, rhizomes, bulbs, etc.

Some seeds can be added at regular spaces in what are referred to as “seed nests”, imitating forest seed banks. The seeds in seed nests belong to a diversity of plants of different life cycles and stratas, mixing production species and supportive species, each type at their correct depth for optimal germination.?Seed nests kick start communities of plants. Some of these plants will eventually be cut for mulch and induce a hormonal pulse of growth for their neighboring plants. Others will become main target crops throughout time. Designing systems of high density and diversity allows the syntropic farmer to select the most resilient and healthier specimens for production. So these seed nests can also come in handy to replace some main target crop plants that for any reason didn’t succeed.?

Special thanks to the following sources:

• Ernst G?tsch. Break-through in Agriculture. August '94. Available here
• José Fernando Dos Santos Rebello & Daniela Ghiringhello Sakamoto. Agricultura Sintrópica Segundo Ernst G?tsch. Editora Reviver 2021. Available here in Portuguese.
• Marc Leiber. What is Syntropic Farming? September 2022. Available here.