Does Syntropic Farming Work in all Climates?

I am often asked if Syntropic agriculture works in this climate or that climate, the answer is simple - wherever trees grow, Syntropic Agriculture works. The reason for this is that Syntropic Agriculture is just a framework for managing the forces of nature that already exist, those same forces which allow the trees to grow as they do, it is simply a function of the planet’s ecology.

Syntropic Agriculture is something which allows humans to use the exact same function in an organised way to achieve the full potential of nature, as in FULL POTENTIAL! What I mean by this is that using this framework of planting and managing, we can actually grow plants faster than they grow in nature. How this works is that in nature, between each successional pulse as plants growing together get to the end of their cycle, there is a period of stagnation, which we call “senescence”. Nature is patient, nature is not in a hurry, when plants become senescent, the forest for that period of time shuts down and can remain like this for an extended period of time, until a disturbance event occurs. When we manage a consciously designed system, we prune at exactly the right time which pulses the whole system (macro organism) into its new successional phase - we do not wait while plants move out from forces outside our sphere of management. What happens when we prune is we get a growth pulse, a synchronised cycle of vitality, so essentially, we ride this pulse upwards and upwards, hence the power of this system, we utilise the full potential of evolution.

To organise plants properly to achieve these best results, we plant them into a “consortium”, where plants are arranged via their lifecycle, strata, successional role and managed through the space and time dynamic that is achieved, old plants are always leaving, and new plants constantly taking their place, in an ever increasing upward spiral of vitality and life. This allows us to move through species succession and maintain a constant positive feedback loop.

So how does this work in all climates? Its really simple - species succession occurs everywhere, it is a function of the planet earth - syntropy. Everywhere that species succession occurs, plants that take part in this superb phenomena, have their successional role, a certain lifecycle (like all organisms on earth), and they have their own specific light requirements (strata) - some species tolerate a lot of shade, and some species tolerate none, and in between there are all of the species that suit the light between the two extremes.

So to plant and manage a Syntropic system in any climate, organise the plants that you know grow well in your climate into a consortium by their successional role, their light requirements (strata) and their lifecycle and manage senescence to stay in a chain of coordinated growth pulses and watch the full power of nature feed into the outcome which you decide!

I offer Syntropic Farming courses both face-to-face and online. My face-to-face courses are taught nationally around Australia covering Temperate, Subtropical and Tropical climates….learn more