The challenges of syntropic agriculture in the European Context: Our learnings from a panel discussion with syntropic experts

By Lynn Vanheule , Bruna San Roman and Suzanne van der Velde

Today’s food system is designed for simplicity and scale. Our food is traded as commodity in international markets, and mostly grown as annual monocrops. This system strongly depends on external inputs, such as pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, and depletes our soils. Slowly, we see a movement of regenerative farming methods focused on soil health and balanced ecosystems. These systems embrace natural processes and are complex by design. In times of changes in environmental conditions, they provide resilience - as healthy soils cope better with periods of droughts and can act as water buffer - and therefore better food security in the long run. Complex agroforestry systems - consisting of varieties of perennial plants and trees, and sometimes animals - have the ability to provide food while restoring degraded lands and ecosystems. Syntropic agriculture - also known as successional agroforestry - originated in Brazil in the 80’s, through the practice and research of Ernst Gotsch, and provides a set of processes to work towards a complex and highly regenerative agriculture system. In this article we share lessons on opportunities and challenges of adopting syntropic agriculture in Europe based on a public discussion with syntropic experts.

But before we dive into these lessons, we want to tell you why we spoke to these experts and what we plan to do with these learnings. We are early stage entrepreneurs with the ambition to accelerate restoring degraded landscapes through complex agroforestry systems in Europe. The syntropic agroforestry method has proven to be effective in restoring soil and biodiversity, and can produce food on commercial scale. A good understanding of the opportunities and challenges related to this method forms the basis for our entrepreneurial journey. We thought the lessons from experts can be relevant for a wider public, so we decided to let people listen in on our discussion.

We invited a range of experts to the panel. Let us introduce them first.

German farmer and educator Lilly Schmidtlein, who had experience with market gardens before she started her syntropic farm Hof Verde. Filipe Amato - farmer, educator and syntropic practitioner in Brazil and Europe; Dutch syntropic educators and designers Malika Cieremans and Jos Willemsen ; Ruben Costa - Agroforestry Consultant & Steward at Planta Floresta, a syntropic agriculture project in the Mediterranean ecosystem in Portugal; Steven Werner - Regenerative Agroforestry Technician and educator at Recelio in France; and Bruna San Roman , one of the starting entrepreneurs, Aromatherapist, and Agroforestry researcher with experience in Brazil and the Netherlands, also took part as expert in the panel.

So let’s dive into the content now!

A bit of background: what is syntropic farming?

Syntropic farming is based on a combination of techniques to move the food production system through various stages of ecological succession. The design of the system is the first big distinction between syntropic and non-syntropic systems, because it includes a combination of species occupying the maximum space, both horizontal, vertical and throughout time. Therefore the name, successional agroforestry, and the element of stratification and high plant density. The management of syntropic farms is based techniques that mimic nature and create favourable environment for plants, soil and microorganisms to thrive and spiral up in creating more life. This process is enhanced through selective weeding, pruning and green mulching, which ensure plants get the right amount of sun light, and the soil receives organic matter (created through pruning, weeding and mulching). In a syntropic system it’s important to understand the role that every species plays. Taking time to observe and interact with the system is crucial, and a syntropic farmer becomes “part of the system”, as facilitator of nature’s processes.

We are very inspired by below documentaries explaining and showing the syntropic principles in more detail.

Do you want to learn more about syntropy and are looking for upcoming courses in The Netherlands? Keep an eye on these websites: ttps://www.circleecology.nl/educatie-3/ and https://www.teamingwithlife.info

The status of complex agroforestry systems in Europe

There are numerous projects adopting these practices in Europe, from small scale to medium and large ones. We have found older pioneering projects that started around 2009. We do see syntropic farms on commercial scale, for example in Portugal and Germany. Despite the constant development and thrive of these projects, the uptake of syntropic as an agriculture practice is still in an early pioneering phase, and the movement would benefit from the showcases of mature commercial-driven farms, in all sizes.

Syntropic agriculture versus food forests in The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, one of the oldest food forest was established twelve years ago. The Dutch Food Forest movement advocates for complex systems designed with layers of perennial plants and trees. In the initial years limited labour is required and human interference is often considered to disturb the systems’ development. After circa seven years you can expect revenue from the harvest in a typical food forest. You can see this process as a “snapshot design”: although plants do evolve and mature, the system is designed and implemented as a static selection of plants from day one.

A syntropic system on the other hand focuses on succession. Therefore it is important to determine which plant species are introduced, where and when, which looks more like a “movie design” than a snapshot. This means that the system may look different each year. In the first years you can, for example, combine annual crops with perennials. This way the farmer can generate revenue streams earlier too. Another difference compared with a ‘typical food forest design’ is the active involvement of people throughout the seasons, through system management and selective pruning.

A labour and knowledge intensive system, which pays back in complete ecosystems recovery

While conventional agriculture strongly depends on inputs, such as (synthetic) fertilisers and pesticides, a syntropic system generates its own inputs. Syntropic agroforestry is thus by nature more knowledge than input intensive. This knowledge is very context specific, making the knowledge requirements even more dominant when you want to scale syntropic systems in Europe. On the other hand, we see that syntropic agriculture has so much potential to create positive impact in the eroding landscapes we find ourselves in. Experts say that although syntropic systems are knowledge and labour intensive, these systems pay back in terms of soil recovery, ecosystem rebuild and healthy food production.

So what challenges are related to syntropic agriculture?

Syntropic systems are complex agroforestry systems, while our current food system is designed for simplicity, scale and efficiency in terms of yield and mechanisation. This means that for scaling adoption of these systems, we need ways to let (new) farmers cope with this complexity. Education is key here, and while there are many educational opportunities and schools available for arable farming, this infrastructure is not standardised for syntropic farming.

The strong labour requirement is another challenge in the current market and context. You need to learn how to work with these complex systems and thus need dedicated time for this and it’s key to start small. Once you have invested time, the manual labour goes faster. So as a new syntropic farmer, you need to focus on learning how to manage a system in the beginning, and aim to profit later.

Our main take-aways

If we want to scale syntropic agroforestry practices in Europe, we need more people to be familiar with these practises. We need places to go to, to experience and observe and become part of the ecosystems that can produce our food. We need storytelling to show farmers the benefits of these systems.

So what are the main take aways from our panel discussion?

• There is a strong need for storytelling, both for investors and (new) farmers. Getting insights in business figures is an important part of the stories to be told. However, these figures also create a paper reality when they are not validated and only used as a forecast model.
• There are bottlenecks on collecting (business) data effectively, as business outcomes are very location specific, and there is a need to have a proper way to collect validated data.
• Want to work with syntropy? Go gradual and don’t pin too much on figures in a model. We are losing our wisdom when we are too much depend on data (alone) to show us the way. Also, start small to be able to really learn from what you see.
• There is a need for small and light weight machines for selective weeding. However, most work in syntropic systems needs to be done by people who have to be paid fairly for their work.
• Sharing technical details and ‘recipes’ is needed for the syntropic community to learn and work towards business models and production for markets. Sharing these ‘learnings from the field’ needs connection between pioneers in a ‘non-digital’ format.
• Different fields of expertise need to be connected. Think of agro-ecologists, agronomists, crop specialists, machine engineers, designers and farmers.
• The pool of syntropic experts is growing though educational efforts. In general, experts do see a limited number of farmers in their syntropic trainings at the moment. They see that implementing syntropic principles can help farmers with transitioning towards a systems with reduced environmental pressure, helping to be more resilient with changing legislation (pesticide reduction, nitrogen reduction, stricter policies for water quality and biodiversity). So, for farmers to implement syntropic methods, again, storytelling and showing this potential is key.
• Scale means not only hundreds of hectares and machine-based agriculture, but also thousands of medium-size community systems structured around local cooperative systems.
• Start producing food for (local) markets. Especially in the Netherlands this does not happen yet.
• Processing your harvests can be a good pathway towards added-value products and reaching markets. Having local processing facilities operating close to cooperatives and connected to local communities can boost scale in the region.

Last piece of advise from the experts: go for the strengths that a syntropic system can bring!

Our next steps

After diving into the (European) world of syntropic farming, we see a need for more examples of (commercial scale) syntropic farms. Especially in the Netherlands, where releasing pressure on our environment is urgent and where complex agroforestry systems, such food forests are becoming more known. We also see that for (skilled) labour and knowledge to be widely available, we need people: from stewards and managers, to gardeners, volunteers and students.

Therefore, we are interested to connect to people in the Netherlands who want to become a syntropic farmer or integrate syntropic principles in current operations. And to people who see themselves as future students, stewards, farm managers or volunteers

Do you want to be part of it? Send us a message!

In case you already work with Syntropic in another European country, please help us by answering this quick survey.

About Fresh

Fresh Ventures Studio is a unique start-up studio that builds innovative, steward-owned companies that are on a mission to lead us to a regenerative & circular food system. Fresh Ventures combine systems thinking, regeneration principles and venture building techniques to make this happen, from scratch to scale.

We are in the 3-month, pre-idea stage venture building program as a pipeline for their Studio. This Program runs full-time and in person in Rotterdam, and we are currently Founders-in-residence for Fresh’s second pre-studio program.

On a last note, we realise the current challenges related to our food system also apply for syntropic agriculture. Think of: low prices paid to farmers, complex supply chains that are sometimes difficult to access without high volumes, high land prices and high labour costs. The program of Fresh focuses on these different challenges as well. In the panel discussion, we were interested in opportunities and challenges specifically related to syntropic agriculture.