Making Syntropic Agriculture Work For You
As we move further into Syntropic Agriculture as a true application of primary production, there are important things that stand out. When one decides that they wish to use this very powerful but new methodology for livelihood in the context of primary production, there is no room for wishful thinking, ideology or wanting things to be how you think they should be. Mistakes cost money, not only that, they delay production and make the experience less than pleasant, on the contrary, when one immerses in observation and feedback, stays firmly anchored in the principles of Syntropic Agriculture, which are fluid and quite universal, there is an immense source of information which is highly instructive and is always willing to give - we just have to recognise this and work with it. When this happens, we find that we are moving with the power, and with the right mindset we understand that things are as they should be and we invest in the strength of what is, instead of arguing with reality. I sometimes find two types of misconceptions in people’s view of Syntropic Agriculture, both are in the mindset department, with one view being that Syntropic Agriculture cannot be profitable and the other view being that Syntropic Agriculture is some sort of infinitely manifestable abundance where all you have to do is plant in some set method and we will all be living large.
Like with anything worth doing, and pursuing a level of excellence, one must work hard and stay firm in reality, growing food or fibre is no exception.
Now that I have covered the theme of the paddock between the ears, and hopefully reduced some perception issues, I would like to now cover something very important regarding the function of Syntropic Agriculture, in the context of the fundamental driver - species succession, and how we can easily miss something really important in our vision quest of high succession forest.
THE IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLACENTA 2 AND EARLY SECONDARY SUCCESSION!
In our quest at Syntropia’s Farm, to be regenerative farmers in earnest, to make a living and enjoy the dedicated and true act of primary production, we have made important discoveries. We are not playing around for the sake of indulging in something novel and new. Our livelihood depends on this and so we naturally keep a sharp eye on everything that happens, and from this space I have something important to share with you - the extremely dynamic space between placenta 2 and early secondary succession and how it can either be a costly trap or serve you and provide happiness, satisfaction and profit.
Paying attention in the present and understanding the immense power of photosynthesising grasses covering a sunny field is power - the sugars generated minute by minute must be acknowledged, they are what you have in the here and now - unless you are intervening in a senescent section of forest and pulsing it into a new phase of succession, which I can cover in another article.
Most of us are starting with a grassy field, some of us with bare soil, and there are some circumstances where we are intervening in senescent stands of trees. If one has bare soil, there are several ways to get to placenta 2 from placenta 1, it depends on your context, but for the sake of this article we will start in placenta 2 - perennial pasture, lawn, or any other grassy patch. Placenta 2 is the place in species succession where grasses are perennial, woody weeds occur and there are no longer lived pioneering trees. Placenta 2, if not destroyed by bad management will eventually create the conditions for early secondary succession - pioneering trees, which have a much longer lifecycle than woody weeds. I understand that there are nuances everywhere with how we define species succession, but for the sake of this article we will stick to the Syntropic framework.
If undertaking an enterprise using Syntropic Agriculture, we will have a successional plan according to our strategy, which takes its form as a production plan. Moving through species succession, into higher and higher forms of life is the only real, physical form of regenerative agriculture - if we do not facilitate this, we will always have to add inputs instead of letting the ecology accumulate them naturally, even Holistically Planned Grazing is based on species succession, albeit in a savanna ecology, where the goal is to get to the highest forms of life in a savanna. With Syntropic methodology we also have the woodland element, like the forests and woodlands of the planet, even the gallery forests of the savanna, so we must plan crops that “piggyback” this powerful process. We may start out with an annual crop and move to a perennial cash crop which benefits from the constant upward lift of a well managed Syntropic system, we may choose animals for this purpose too, with a holistic grazing plan, either way, we are moving upward in species succession, increasing our carrying capacity and reducing costs. Our yields in higher succession could be anything we choose which inhabits that niche - a highly productive orchard enterprise, an agrosilvopasture system which continues to carry livestock while producing hardwood timber yields, or a grain enterprise in an alley crop configuration, at any rate, if you have moved up the spiral of life into healthy trees and higher succession grasses, you are winning!
What we have observed in practice is that there is an exponential type of process with species succession in a Syntropic system, the first successional phase we often find ourselves working with - placenta 2 (established grasses) takes a lot of time and effort to improve. There are lots of methods, like mobbing livestock, measured and controlled disturbance which brings placenta 1 (eg, sorghum) back to lift with it some better quality C4 perennial grasses (eg, Panicum Maximum) and the goal is to increase life, which manifests for practical reasons as an increase in biomass, which when organised in lines, creates a concentration of fertility. This is our starting point for early secondary succession, or to put it more practically, tree rows. Placenta 2 is a challenge, and takes much longer to move as does early secondary succession. Due to timed pruning events creating strong growth pulses when we have early secondary succession thriving, things begin to move even more quickly.
FROM PLACENTA 2 TO EARLY SECONDARY IS A BIG JUMP!
And here we come to the heart of the matter, the relationship between, or transition to early secondary succession from placenta 2. This is a critical and important phase, where most of us for now will be earning our bread and it is where we are most likely to succeed or fail.
When we organise the lines of biomass provided by the grasses, we are of course contriving to some extent a upward movement of species succession, we are creating better conditions in the soil life by concentrating biomass into specific rows to support higher life (yes, we do give back to the grasses and I will cover that in another article), and conditions improve remarkably when we do this, but we must also be very aware that it is not perfect. Due to us “contriving” these conditions, we have also created instability, we have dramatically changed things by concentrating fertility, and all sorts of feedbacks begin.
This is the space where we must be prepared to stay sharp, use keen observation, be patient and profit.
Once these lines of biomass are established, it is normal to plan the tree planting of early secondary succession - the eucalypts, the pioneers etc, and also perhaps the seedling fruit trees.
Be very careful here!
There is a transition in place, particularly if you are like me and not using any fertilisers or other amendments. It is a very dynamic space and remembering that we are already in a powerful environment, with a lot going on, we must pay attention to this transition and work with the power. When we do this, things will stabilise, and you will not waste energy, time and money forcing early secondary succession.
You can miss an important opportunity here and lose big time if you want to push things in a direction you decide it must go in - patience, being present and looking at your opportunities will reward you handsomely.
Sadly, I have seen a lot of money and time wasted from a lack of patience and missed opportunity by “wanting to see a food forest already”. If they haven’t given up and walked away by then, there is a painful reset, as weeds invade, expensive trees die and the pattern no longer supports efficient management.
PLACENTA 2 STILL HAS A JOB TO DO!
Yes, we have forced a change in the ecology by organising biomass into heavy concentration in lines, yes, you have most definitely improved conditions - there are many earthworms now in the soil under the mulch, the grass at the edges is very green, healthy and growing a lot faster, but here is where I recommend a patient transition to early secondary and also look to earning some money, you have a great opportunity here!
What we have done is we have seriously improved conditions for placenta 2! Yes, we have facilitated the conditions for the onset of early secondary succession, but there are no definite thresholds in nature, nor does it really think of itself in set categories of successional stages - it does what it does, and this is our reality that we work with. Our definitions and terms are our guides, our tools, which are extremely valuable, and enable us to do things such as this, but we must throw them away at a certain point, the same way we theoretically understand how to ride a horse, but at some point you must leave it to instinct.
So understanding this nuance, understanding that we are in an unstable situation where we have created a new set of feedback loops by intervening in the ecology, we must now harness its power - it is very powerful. What will happen if you did this and left it alone in nature, is normally there will be an emergence of the woody weed type plants of early secondary succession, plants like short lived wattles, castor oil, blackberry and other magnificent plants, we need these plants to bring in the next level.
Here is where we have a great opportunity to earn. Fertility has increased, you haven’t spent money on fertiliser, instead, all you have done is manage ecology and things really are great. Placenta 2 is wanting to stabilise into the new conditions you have created, and guess what?
A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF THE HUMAN DIET COMES FROM PLACENTA 1 & 2!
Make the most of it! When you put together your production plan, think about all those really good crops that thrive in placenta 2, things like cassava, potato, taro, berries, just to name a few. You have created conditions not only for them to thrive, but they are also playing a vital ecological function in their placenta 2 role - they have important relationships with the soil microbes and feed a lot of sugar (liquid carbon) into the soil, the biology stabilises and conditions which support early secondary are developing - you are facilitating species succession while earning, this is exactly how Syntropic Agriculture is supposed to work, consciously facilitating the upward spiral of life and feeding humans simultaneously, and because, like I said, there are no distinct thresholds between the transition in stages of species succession, your early secondary plantings can benefit from the stabilising nature of your crops.
It is important to mention that we plant always in consortia, so although we may be cropping, it is never a monoculture, we are incorporating, via the complimentary nature of differing strata and lifecycles of plants - a lot of those woody weed species which occur in placenta 2, like castor oil etc. It is the conscious design of the consortium, with our crop included, that is the vehicle in which we travel upwards in species succession.
To summarise, we must not misallocate value, we must not ignore the power of what is before us due to our visions of what can be - leave that for later, where it belongs, and build the foundations for that with the abundance that is accessible to us in the present.
Nature is very powerful and we know that when we destabilise via any kind of intervention, there are always feedbacks which occur, the power of Syntropy lies in harnessing that power and directing it towards regeneration and abundance - this is the true power of Syntropic Agriculture.
You may have seen many pictures and videos of Ernst Gotsch’s work from Brazil, in them you will often see fields of grasses with mulched lines, eucalyptus growing and simple crops. It may look simple but he is maximising the power of the conditions that suit, he is getting enormous amounts of photosynthesis, creating massive amounts of biomass, locking in soil carbon and creating the conditions for abundance, all the while the seeds of succession are growing, there is always a lot going on that you cannot see.
Be patient in placenta 2, earn your money for livelihood. The more effort and consciousness that you apply here will see you doing well and the faster and faster feedbacks of the woodland ecology that follows will ensue, you will have a higher and higher quality of life.
If you are interested in getting into this, I can be of great assistance, saving you much time and money with a production strategy. Just email me: scott@syntropia.com.au and we can have a chat about what you need.
Thanks for reading!
Scott
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