Ernst Götsch

Syntropic Agriculture – Switzerland

Ernst Gotsch is a Swiss farmer and researcher working mostly in Brazil. He has originated a system of climate and biodiversity friendly sustainable farming techniques known as syntropic agriculture or dynamic/successional agroforestry. The practice of Syntropic Agriculture focuses highly on regeneration by use through already existing, even denatured or farmed out, ecosystems. With special emphasis on soil formation and regulation of micro-climate water cycles, this particular practice utilizes local ecosystem processes for restoring nature-that-was.

Gotsch was born in 1948 in Raperswilen, Switzerland and moved to Brazil in the early 1980s, establishing himself in a farm in Southern Bahia. Years before, he had decided to quit a research job on genetic enhancement at FAP Zürich-Reckenholz. He has been dedicated to giving lectures, courses and consulting to publicize knowledge of his approach

Gotsch has achieved renown due to the results of his methods, evident in the successes of his farm Olhos D’Água. It is considered notable because the land was previously considered hopelessly degraded by the farming community, and in a few short years, has been restored to levels of biodiversity and productivity that compare well with untouched forest regions in the Amazon region.

Gotsch’s work in Latin America on models of agroforestry has led to the conversion of large tracts of degraded land into productive and diverse agroforests. He has developed a new technique of rapid recovery of poor soils by imitating existing patterns in nature in which carefully selected species of plants – a consortium of species – are placed at a given spacing and orientation, introduced in a predetermined sequence, and are heavily pruned during their growth period at regular intervals. In the space of a few years, he has converted over 1200 acres of degraded land in Brazil into a productive rainforest that produces premium cacao, among other things. His students and some businesses are now implementing the same techniques combining commercial and ecological interests. One particular philosophy is that water is planted (‘Água se planta!’), by introducing plants that store water, and increase transpiration.

‘Turn our enemies into our friends.”

Website: 1) Syntropic Farming 2) Biography

Video 1: Life is Syntropy

Video 2:  GERF Presentation