Saturdays are perfect days for scientific surprises. Surprise—we’re talking about the history and etymology of syntropic agroforestry today!
Agriculture may be an ancient endeavor, but that doesn’t mean farmers aren’t always exploring new frontiers. Ironically, some of the newest initiatives in cultivation draw inspiration from what works in the wild.
Agroforestry is a land management system in which combinations of trees are grown around or among crops or pasture to elicit a host of benefits.
AGRI- (field) + FOREST (forest) + -RY (condition of)
A fundamental principle of agroforestry is polyculture, in which more than one crop species is grown together to foster synergistic advantages.
POLY- (many) + CULT- (care) + -URE (act)
Intentionally cultivating two or more crops alongside each other is called intercropping or companion planting. For example, I learned a long time ago that planting marigolds next to tomatoes helps attract the right insects while repelling the wrong ones.
INTER- (between) + CROP- (sprout) + -ING (act of)
Syntropic agroforestry takes the polyculture concept to the next level by harnessing natural processes to productively cultivate crops amidst non-crop species.
SYN- (together) + TROP- (turn) + -IC (pertaining to)
This form of agriculture, championed most prominently by Ernst Götsch, activates fundamental forces of dynamical equilibrium, growth pulses, and four-dimensional stratification (words to explore another day) to trigger and accelerate the process that can transform degraded, disturbed or ordinary soil into an abundant ecosystem. You don’t need to be a farmer to find all this fascinating!
A ton of great videos about syntropic agroforestry can be found on YouTube. Here’s my favorite:
“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” —Mahatma Gandhi
I'm fascinated to learn how you came across this term. I got into food forestry a few years ago, and it's become one of my passions. My favorite part of my day is the time I spend in my own food forest. It's nothing like the one featured in the video (yet), but it's coming along.
Fascinating. It's requiring a great effort on my part to resist scrapping my Saturday to-do list and jumping into this rabbit hole!