THURSDAY, JAN 26, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Module 3-14
Syntropic agriculture
Syntropic Agriculture was established by Ernst Götsch, whose search for the opposite of entropy in living systems led him to the complementary concept of syntropy. Whilst entropy is associated with energy dispersal, divergence and simplification, syntropy is associated with energy concentration, convergence and complexity. Entropy and syntropy are complementary, as in the example of wood, a complex form, which when burnt, breaks down to embers, ash and smoke / gasses, which in turn, become ingredients to recombine with living matter, soil, to form yet another level of complexity, and so on.
Götsch noted that industrial agriculture is an entropic linear system which uses Nature’s resources indiscriminately, and when exhausted, replaces them with synthetic chemicals, thus effectively “mining soil”. Instead, through keen observation, trials and refinements, Götsch has mimicked Nature’s cycles and growth spurts between the interface of entropy and syntropy, thereby developing the closed system concept of Syntropic Agriculture. Syntropic Agriculture is also based on Permaculture principles, but whilst the latter focuses on a whole farm systems design, Syntropic Agriculture makes a specific contribution towards food forests and agro-forestry through ecosystem regeneration. According to Götsch:
“In Syntropic Farming, holes become nests, seeds become genes, weeding becomes harvesting, the competition gives way to cooperation and pests and diseases are seen as the “agents from the department of optimization of life processes”. These and other terms do not arise by chance, but rather derive from a change in the way we see, interpret and relate to nature.
Many of the sustainable farming practices are based on the logic of input substitution. Chemicals are replaced with organic, plastics with biodegradable materials, pesticides with all sort of preparations. However, the way of thinking is still very close to that one they oppose. In common, they combat the consequences of the lack of adequate conditions for healthy plant growth. Syntropic Agriculture, on the other hand, helps the farmer replicate and accelerate the natural processes of ecological succession and stratification, giving each plant the ideal conditions for its development, placing each one in their “just right” position in space (strata) and in time (succession). It is process-based agriculture, rather than input-based. In that way, the harvest is seen as a side effect of ecosystem regeneration, or vice versa”. (Source).
The FAO has included Syntropic Agriculture in its Agroecology Knowledge Hub and deployed this system in some of Mozambique’s degraded areas (see links one and two). This is an inspiring video (16 mins) about Syntropic Agriculture that was made especially for the Paris COP21 in 2015.
This short video (2 mins) documents the impressive implementation of a project in just a few months.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_G%C3%B6tsch
Module 3, lesson 15
