Syntropy instead of monotony – A different type of agriculture is possible.
Video of the report: With syntropy from the Green Desert.
The Genetic Engineering Concerns Package
Three dozen large landowners in the caravan are looking for a way out of the stalemate. They head to the Invernadinho soybean farm, near Mineiros, to attend a practical seminar with Swiss agronomist Ernst Götsch. 71 years old, thin, with a goatee. Son of a farmer from Lake Constance. Someone who experimented with mixed crops when his fellow researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Plant Production were focusing on genetic engineering and the Green Revolution. “Everyone was sitting in the laboratory. “I practically had the greenhouses to myself,” he says with a smile. He discovered something interesting: “With mixed crops, growth increased by 30%.” From mixed crops it went to soil microorganisms, from there to the ecosystem, and everything together resulted in what Götsch calls syntropic agriculture: autonomous agriculture. system, The forest plays a key role in this. Instead of the monotony of the Green Revolution, there is diversity in Götsch’s system, regardless of whether it is the production of cocoa, soybeans, wheat, bananas or citrus fruits. The man also has his part: “He is the giraffe,” says Götsch, who loves pithy comparisons. People prune the rows of trees regularly. This stimulates plant growth and at the same time biomass is added to the soil as fertilizer. Götsch’s own farm in the state of Bahia is the best example of how it works.
SYNTHROPIC AGRICULTURE
Syntropy means “together, together” in Greek. Syntropic agriculture is based on the complex interaction of different plants and organisms that protect each other and provide nutrients. It is always made up of mixed cultures and is exactly the counterpart of the modern “Green Revolution” with its monocultures. Its basic structure is an agroforestry. Trees and grasses primarily provide organic material to improve soil quality and moisture. Syntropic farming uses no externally added fertilizers, pesticides or insecticides and is therefore 100% organic. The main task of human beings is to plan, create and then maintain agroforestry through specific pruning.
The rainmaker of Bahia
Rrrrrummm, rrrrummm. The sound of the chainsaw can be heard from afar through the dense Gandú forest, south of Bahia. But instead of clear-cutting, an artificial jungle is emerging here, and in the middle of it is one of the most productive and best quality cocoa plantations in all of Brazil. “Pruning stimulates plant growth, generates natural fertilizer and light for the plants growing below,” explains Götsch. He acquired the 120 hectares 30 years ago, thanks to a bet. “It was a thick meadow,” Götsch says as he climbs trees in rubber boots and completely dirty pants and cuts branches with a chainsaw. The soil had been impoverished by deforestation and years of ranching, and most of the springs had dried up. “Not suitable for cocoa”, certified by the responsible agricultural authority. At that time, cocoa was the star product of Bahia. Anything that was not suitable for cocoa was worthless. Götsch’s then client challenged him: “I will buy the land from you. If your method works, you will return it to me.” Götsch began to plant trees. He rejected artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Then he let most of it grow naturally; He planted bananas and cocoa on 12 hectares and repeatedly intervened there to regulate them.
The neighbors laughed at the “crazy gringo.” But after five years a small forest emerged, the first springs returned and Götsch was able to pay his loan with cocoa and bananas. The plants grew so well that even rampant fungal diseases could not harm them. Then a great drought hit the region; Only in Götsch did it rain, because the dense vegetation of its 120 hectares caused high local evaporation. His success as a “rainmaker” earned him the respect of his neighbors. They began to imitate him. The forest area in the area has grown to 1,000 hectares. “When you fly over you can no longer see my farm, because there are clouds here all year round,” says Götsch proudly.
He doesn’t stop working for even a second. With concentration, he cuts the severed branches of the cat tree with his machete to cover them under the cocoa tree. When asked how productive her plantation is, she cheerfully responds: “Just like the neighbors’ conventional ones. What happens is that my costs are lower.” In his post-war youth, Götsch experienced how the farmers of that time produced. “There were many hedges between the fields. The orchards used to be at the edge of the forest,” he observed. Traditions that were lost and considered obsolete. But not with Götsch. After the research stay in Zurich, he accepted an assignment on a coffee plantation in Costa Rica to test his ideas on a large scale in other climatic zones; He also spent time in Africa.
imitate nature
Götsch discovered that one element plays a central role: the forest. “The decline of advanced civilizations was always initiated by the depletion of natural resources,” he teaches, “from the Romans to the Mayans. And he always had to do with the fight of man against the forest. » The forest as something dark, unpredictable against man, who is a steppe animal? Could it be a psychological element that has been playing tricks on our civilization – with the exception of some indigenous groups – for thousands of years without us knowing it? Götsch agrees with this, but also with the fact that nature has always recovered from human setbacks.
Its production does not require fertilizers, irrigation or pesticides and is 100% organic. Thanks to low costs, one hectare can feed a family and four hectares can produce wealth, he calculates, as long as the products continue to be processed and transportation and marketing work. His wife Cimara runs this family business with her two daughters. “Götsch” is the name of the house brand. In the local kitchen, grated cocoa and dark chocolate are produced and sold in simple paper bags. Word of his success spread. Götsch became the “Pope of agroforestry.” But he wants to get out of the economic niche. “My wish is for my way of farming to become established worldwide,” he says. To do this you need big farmers. Two years ago he began working with the Mineiros group, which also includes soybean farmer Paolo Borges. The 40 initial participants have now become a thousand who are connected via WhatsApp. The euphoria of the pioneer spirit is felt in the Mineiros seminary. But the challenge of practicing syntropic agriculture on large surfaces is enormous, as can be seen in the Fazenda Invernadinho chosen for the workshop: not all plants fit, different products such as beans, bananas, soybeans and citrus fruits are harvested in stages. Each Fazenda needs its own tailor-made combination. The 40 initial participants have now become a thousand who are connected via WhatsApp. The euphoria of the pioneer spirit is felt in the Mineiros seminary. But the challenge of practicing syntropic agriculture on large surfaces is enormous, as can be seen in the Fazenda Invernadinho chosen for the workshop: not all plants fit, different products such as beans, bananas, soybeans and citrus fruits are harvested in stages. Each Fazenda needs its own tailor-made combination. The 40 initial participants have now become a thousand who are connected via WhatsApp. The euphoria of the pioneer spirit is felt in the Mineiros seminary. But the challenge of practicing syntropic agriculture on large surfaces is enormous, as can be seen in the Fazenda Invernadinho chosen for the workshop: not all plants fit, different products such as beans, bananas, soybeans and citrus fruits are harvested in stages. Each Fazenda needs its own tailor-made combination.
“We lack advisors and suitable machines,” says seminar participant Marco Janssen. Since they do not yet exist, Götsch paints designs himself. He has already found some inventors who are implementing his sketches. During the practical test in Invernadinho, the large stacker lawnmower left the road after a few meters. “It’s normal, we realized the mistake and we have to try again,” Götsch encourages the skeptical Janssen. Another problem is the lack of qualified workers. Götsch has trained some agronomists in his method, but not enough. Paid video tutorials on the Internet only show the basics, but they don’t help with all the imponderables. And quick relief is the be all and end all for big farmers, because for them every bad harvest costs millions.
Borges is not deterred by this. “My family didn’t like being on our farm recently. It smells like chemicals, no longer like nature,” he says. He has already reduced chemical fertilizers and pesticides through compost and plant homeopathy. Syntropy aims to make glyphosate, the key herbicide in soybean cultivation, unnecessary. Then grasses, which were previously the bitterest enemies of soybean producers, would become allies. “Within ten years I want to be completely free of poison,” Borges has decided. So he hopes that his children can also enjoy farming again.
