Ernst Götsch-Principles-of-Syntropic-Agriculture

Principles of Syntropic
Agriculture
according to Ernst Götsch

José Fernando dos Santos Rebello
2018

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Photo Felipe Pasini

Cover photo - Castanheira, Bertholletia excelsa, 16 years old planted by Ernst on his farm in Bahia, thanks to the
syntropic handling, the diameter at height of the chest should not be anything to a eucalyptus of the same age. A
chestnut tree can grow as much as a eucalyptus, after the initial phase of rapid growth of this, with the advantage of
producing a wood of excellent quality and fruits of high biological value.

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Preface

So I heard ...

I met Ernst Götsch in 1994, when I was still a student of agronomy, and his lecture at the
University was so shocking to me that shortly afterwards I and a few other friends were on his
farm, great transformation that he had been carrying out in those lands. His knowledge of how
nature works is so profound that even today, whenever the meeting has the feeling of being still
in the first class. This book was written by people in love with nature, in love with Planet Earth
and who believe that it pays to do the best to take care of it, even if they do not see the result. It
is entirely based on the teachings of Ernst Götsch. The urgent need to publicize a production
system that produces tons of healthy and tasty food, recovers degraded areas, returns water to
lost springs, and brings back our forests, has pushed us into this endeavor. It is far from being a
definitive guide on synthetic agriculture, since the knowledge about this agriculture is as
dynamic as the agroforests built by Ernst Götsch. We also do not want the paper to freeze the
concepts, because each day its creator perfects the methods and the interpretation of how nature
works. Knowledge, just as life carries this impermanence, we have to be open-minded and
unarmed to understand that life is not static, it is dynamic and impermanent. We also have no
commercial objective, so we are making the book available on the international computer
network - internet. Thus it is also easy to correct the errors, for true listening implies a great
concentration, which we confess, we can not always achieve. If we succeed, we have no doubt,
the laurels fit our Master, if we fail to interpret the concepts ... that's how we heard. If mankind
can create truly sustainable food production systems, overcoming the obstacles it has created, I
have no doubt that this path will at some point find the syntropical agriculture created by Ernst
Götsch.
All images, graphs and drawings are copies of the original drawings proposed by Ernst Götsch
in many classes attended in the last 23 years, and are always changing, in a constant
improvement of the art of harvesting the Sun.

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Acknowledgments
To Ernst Götsch, for being present at the time of my existence, Cimara, Renate, my brother
Antonio, my family, Dani, Cora, Zé Pedro and Bernardo, Agenda Gotsch, Namaste, Henrique,
Fabiana Peneireiro, Ursula, Juã, Romulo, Patricia Vaz, Karen Ranzi, Rodrigo and Denise,
Gudrum, Craig and Neil, Marcio Armando, Sofia, Augusto Carvalho, Thiago, students of the
long term course of the Gotsch Agenda and all agroforestry of all "ethnicities" of the planet, my
eternal gratitude. A very special and profound thanks to Pedro Paulo Diniz for his pioneering
large-scale synoptic agriculture, and Felipe, Dayana and Edmara Barbosa, who succeeded in
their incredible ability and mastery of the magic of cinema, to spread the synoptic agriculture in
the "novel of nine" and to the four winds, my eternal gratitude. The time for action has come.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 2
Acknowledgments 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
WHAT IS SYNTROPY 5
PRINCIPLES 6
Principle 1 - Maximize photosynthesis 7
Principle 2 - Natural succession and stratification 15
Principle 3 - Covered Soil and Dense Tillage 34
Principle 4 - Selective weeding and pruning (always remove plants from the previous
succession). 41
Principle 5 - Concentrate energy, generate biomass efficiently. 43
Principle 6 - Ecophysiology of plants and ecophysiological function of plants. 44
Principle 7 - Synchronize plantings. Edges should be pruned. 45
Principle 8 - What every being is doing well. 47
CONCLUSION 48
APPENDIX I INDICATOR SPECIES 49
APPENDIX II ERNST GÖTSCH 51

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WHAT IS SYNTROPY
The great contribution that Ernst Götsch gives us is to have unveiled and systematized the
principles through which nature works , Ernst gives us an ecological literacy - as Fritjof Capra
says, understanding the principles of organization that ecosystems have developed to sustain life
- the path to sustainability.
The syntropy, unlike the entropy, goes from the simple to the complex. Tables 1 and 2 taken
from Fritjof Capra's book, The Web of Life, give us an accurate idea of the capacity of life on the
planet to maintain the stability of this macro-organism known as Earth, performing its functions
properly for its own equilibrium , a function known in animal physiology as homeostasis. Thanks
to the emergence of life 3.5 billion years ago and through syntropy, life has been compounding
the energy coming from the Sun into the most different life forms, transforming and storing it,
thus forming a complex living network. For thousands of years human beings have been causing
disturbances in many places of the planet, where we have not reached the acceptable limits of
disturbance, this network has reestablished its connections, life has returned to flourish, like the
regeneration of a small cut in our skin, but where we have surpassed this capacity for
regeneration, it is as if we had amputated a leg, an arm, nature itself did not succeed in this time
scale to return to the previous stability, thus disappeared whole civilizations and enormous
deserts appeared. Thus, understanding that life on the planet is governed by the syntropic
principles, by using them we can return life to degraded areas and turn deserts into forests again.
The principles proposed by Ernst Götsch are put here in a sequence only to facilitate reading, but
they are not in a hierarchy of importance, all are fundamental and must always occur at the same
time, for the success of agroforests. The best description would be that of a network, all are
interconnected. When we implant an agroforest, the absence of any principle weakens this
network, it would be like a hole, where energy can escape that complicates life, so the energy
that could be stored in our system is lost, and this is reflected in the quality of our agroforestry,
the emergence of short-cycle herbs, "invasive plants" (from previous succession systems),
absence of strata, aged plants, diseases, insect outbreaks, low production, are only the symptoms
of not completely applying all the principles. So often to understand one principle we refer to
another because they are all interconnected, almost merged into an amalgam.

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PRINCIPLES
Principle 1 - Maximize photosynthesis

The more photosynthesis, the more vigorous the system. Photosynthesis happens not only with
water coming from the soil, plants drink water from the atmosphere as well. The maximization
of photosynthesis by planting in high density and strata allows the system to become dark and
colder. If we really understand photosynthesis to the depth it requires, we will be able to build
the most beautiful and productive agroforestry. Have long known equation of photosynthesis:
water + CO2 LIGHT Glucose + O2
Glucose synthesized during photosynthesis is the precursor of the characteristic carbohydrate of
plants: sucrose, starch and cellulose, which can notsynthesized by animals with cellulose the
most abundant polysaccharide in nature. Huge amounts of pulp are produced annually by the
plant kingdom, not only in growing forests, but also by crops intended for harvesting. It is
estimated that every day vegetables synthesize 50 kg of cellulose for each human being on the
planet (Lehninger, 1989), which in today's calculations would give 350 billion kg of cellulose
produced per day. From the glucose produced in photosynthesis, the plants form numerous other
sugars such as maltose, sucrose, fructose, mannose, ribose, arabinose, xylose and others.
Carbohydrates are the "sustenance of life" for many organisms, and account for most of the
caloric intake of humans, most animals, and also, directly or indirectly, of most microorganisms.
Carbohydrates also occupy a central position in the metabolism of green plants and other
photosynthetic organisms. The vast amounts of starch and other carbohydrates produced by
photosynthesis are the ultimate source of energy for animals, plants and microbes. Thus we
understand the fundamental importance of photosynthesis as the primary source of food for most
living beings on this planet and mainly the basis of the fertility of our soils, because by feeding
the community of soil microorganisms with carbon from photosynthesis, we will be creating a
virtuous circle, where more fertility produces more biomass, more leaves, more chlorophyll,
more photosynthesis, more soil food, but life in the soil, higher fertility, greater balance of
biocenosis, more plant health. Looking at this virtuous circle, we understand the importance of
planting in strata, taking full advantage of all the luminous energy of the Sun, making each
stratum always have the maximum of young biomass. And when we connect this with the natural
succession of the plants, accelerated by means of the
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prunings, we reach the apex of this technology, the natural technology created by the planet
itself, the maximization of photosynthesis. We are, for example, seeking to maximize
photosynthesis in a conventional corn plantation (zea mays) as in image 1.

Image 1 - Conventional maize planting. Source: http://www.folhadooeste.com.br/cidades/, 04/11/2015.
Today the number of maize plants per hectare can reach 90,000 plants / ha, we try to occupy
every square centimeter of the plantation with green leaves to capture the sunlight, reflecting a
higher production of grains. The peak of this occupation, however, only happens for a short time
in a period of one year, and also at high costs, with the use of external and biologically
oppressive inputs, causing the exclusion of other forms of life, other than ours monoculture. In
order to succeed in building a truly sustainable agriculture that lacks the use of agrochemicals, all
principles have to be happening simultaneously. Otherwise we may have a high grain yield, but
highly dependent on fossil fuels and the intensive use of pesticides (fungicides, nematicides,
insecticides, herbicides, transgenic plants) and chemical or organic fertilizers, with a huge
damage to the soil, destruction of springs , streams and rivers, forests and biodiversity,
unimaginable loss of fertile soil (sterilization of soil life, compaction, erosion, etc.), which today
are not considered in the accounting and final product price, these factors are considered by
economists only as externalities of activity.
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Maximizing photosynthesis is closely related to:
1 - Planting in high density;
2 - Stratified arrangements;
3 - Arrangements rotated (driven) by the dynamics of natural succession;
For example, in conventional plantings of fruit-growing, or to recover degraded areas, a tree is
planted every 2 or 3m, there are a lot of niches (empty spaces) that are not occupied, which in
turn results in a strong pressure from invasive grasses and grasses, which requires a lot of
maintenance work in the first two years to avoid suffocation of planted tree seedlings. In
sintrópica agriculture it is sought to occupy each niche in its fullness, that is, to occupy each
niche with the largest number of individuals of the most efficient species for each one of the
tasks, allowing to occupy all space in each of the strata temporally not occupied by the our main
crops, using several species of plants of various strata and life cycles, since trees, often mostly
planted with seeds, take time to occupy or shade their place, meanwhile through the thickened
planting and later pruning and thinning we are complexing the energy that comes from the sun
and turning it into more life for the system, more life above ground (more plants per hectare) and
more life below ground, with more roots and more formation of litter. For example, instead of
killing grass with herbicides between the lines of our fruit crops such as mango (Mangifera
indica), orange (Citrus sp), banana (Musa paradisíaca), coffee (Coffea arabica) etc., we plant
grass between the lines and we cut with very sharp tools (mowers), which automatically move
the grass to the range of trees and thus feed the soil life. The grass being cut if possible with
"razor", suffers a clean cut and regrowth with much more vigor, this information of vigorous
growth is transmitted to our crops and everything grows faster, we are in the flow of life, the
grass is our factory of NPK. From the image below we can see the potential of the syntropical
agriculture. Coffee as a plant naturally from the low stratum is protected by jackfruit (Artocarpus
heterophyllus) and other trees, we have sufficient light for abundant production (see stratification
principle).

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Image 1- Ernst Götsch's work at the Semente Seed (Brasília-DF).
Conventional or organic agriculture usually works in two dimensions: length and width, that is,
we only consider the two-dimensional spacing, either for the planting of soybean (Glycine max),
orange, coffee, sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum), grass etc. . Synthetic agriculture works with
four dimensions: width, length, height (stratum or floor) and time. Thus we seek to offer to each
plant a niche that potentiates its photosynthesis and reduces its stress, we look at each individual
and we seek to create for him a bubble of comfort, we observe if there is enough ground cover to
activate the biological processes in the soil, the quality of this cover , we observe from which
stratum the plant is part and if it is in the proper consortium, that is, if the plant is of the low
stratum: we have the other strata above it? (medium, high and emergent), the quality of these
strata above it are formed by species of the current cycle or the future?, because the succession
moves towards systems of abundance. For example, when we have a manioc (Manihot esculenta)
growing under a new eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp), which was planted together and simultaneously
with it, from 4 to 6 months the eucalyptus exceeds the manioc at its height, we do not necessarily
have that prune all the eucalyptus skirt, but only remove the branches that overlap that stratum
occupied by manioc and calibrate the shade with pruning, so branches that are at the same height
as the cassava, but do not overlap their canopy do not necessarily have to leave, we create for
each individual optimal conditions, or rather, a bubble of life, allowing these bubbles to coexist
harmoniously, pruning only what is necessary. As well as observing if there are no aging plants
and patients nearby, because these always transmit a senescence information to the system as a
whole. When we tell people that we plant eucalyptus along with grass, greenery, bananas, fruit ...
many people are frightened, because soon comes to mind the image 3, eucalyptus planted in
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monoculture. The largest fire in Chile's history occurred in 2017, burning more than 600,000
hectares of native and planted forests, fields, entire villages. One of the reasons was the large
number of forests planted in monoculture, which become pyrophilic (fire "friends") without the
dynamics generated by the management of agroforestry successions.

Figure 2 - Eucalyptus monoculture, susceptible to fire due to being drier than a forest or agroforestry with several
strata, Goiás - Brazil.
Images 4 and 5 present a planting of eucalyptus with a little more dynamics, allowing grass to be
cultivated between the lines, but still without the dynamics of pruning.
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Figure 3 - Eucalyptus plantation in double rows, Goiás - Brazil.

Figure 4 - eucalyptus planting in double rows x 20m (3x2m), Scotland - Brazil.
Image 6 gives us a sense of the principle - maximizing photosynthesis. In the tree line we have
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eucalyptus as emergent stratum and below citrus and banana as the middle stratum, all planted
very close, between the lines mombaça grass (Panicum maximum) as low stratum. Many
questions are asked about eucalyptus, which dries the soil, produces allelopathy (inhibits the
growth of other plants), all of these defects arise from eucalyptus monocultures. In the context of
sintrópica agriculture, the eucalyptus enters like another ally, being distopado to a height of 5m
periodically, providing great amount of biomass, accelerating the growth of the whole system
with its vigorous regrowth and providing excellent wood after 15 years. The dewatering of
eucalyptus and mechanized grinding strongly feeds the whole system (lines and lines), in
addition to generating a dense and non-gable wood. Banana is also an excellent producer of
biomass, say agroforests, which is "so good that it even produces banana," is also heavily pruned
here, feeding the tree line. The lines between the pastures of Mombasa are grazed periodically,
where part of the material is left in the interlining to feed the soil and the grass itself, and part is
deposited in the lines, feeding the trees.

Figure 5 - Agroforestry designed by Ernst Götsch at Fazenda Toca, Itirapina - São Paulo.
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Figure 6 - Vigorous growth of the mombaça grass in between lines. SAF developed by Ernst
Gotsch, Fazenda Toca, Itirapina - São Paulo. The grass is pruned several times a year, presenting
vigorous growth. We never let the grass mature and produce seeds, which would slow its growth
and consequently the growth of the whole system (Figures 6 and 7).

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The fourth dimension is time, thanks to it we can plant in high density, because each plant has a
development time characteristic of its species. We can thus start planting vegetables in the same
space that we plant trees or mombaça grass, for example, since in a few months the vegetables
greet each other, then placental plants 2 (see principles - natural succession and stratification) are
established. two-year trees are sprouting and fast growing trees dominate the system, which after
a few years are replaced by longer trees, and the trees themselves are also planted in high
density, and these trees are pruned and thinned over time. (placenta I and II → secondary I and II
→ Climax).
Principle 2 - Natural succession and stratification

The second principle concerns the natural succession of species in our agroforestry. This
principle is closely associated with the stratification of the forest. For more than 40 years Ernst
Götsch has studied forests and their dynamics and has managed to systematize one of the most
important principles, which is stratification. Each individual, when it reaches its adult stage,
reaches a characteristic size of its species, for example, when it is at the top of the forest, we call
emergent, are those trees that are above the forest, that stand out as for example in the Amazon
we have the (Cocos nucifera), in the Atlantic Forest, we have the jequitibá (Cariniana legalis), in
the northeast, the coconut tree (Bertholletia excelsa), the samaúma (Ceiba pentandra), the piquiá
(Caryocar villosum), the dandy (Joannesia princeps) in the south, araucaria (Araucaria
angustifolia) and many other species. Ernst was able to identify 11 strata or stages (Figure-9),
which occur in practically all biomes of Planet Earth, except for regions near the poles. However,
to make understanding easier, it summarizes this forest dynamics in five strata, and each stratum
has its percentage of shadow that its canopy should occupy on the corresponding floor (figure
10).
FIGURE 9-11 layers (floors)
• Emerging
• High-convex
• High-neutral
• High-concave
• Medium-High
• Medium
• Medium-low
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• Low-Medium
• Low
• Rasteiro-down
• Rasteiro
not necessarily are always all gifts.

Figure 7 - Forest stratification and shade percentage of each stratum.
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This shade percentage of each stratum allows the light to reach the forest floor, where we still
have the stratum stratum. Ernst points out, however, that more important than the appropriate
shade percentage in each stratum is the dynamics we give to this shade, if the tree canopy is
aged, there is no point in the correct percentage of shade in each stratum. Stratification occurs
from the beginning of the agroforestry when we can start with vegetables. Vegetables are the
placenta of the system, that is, they protect and create our embryo: the forest of the future.

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The chart below was prepared by Ernst Götsch and shows the evolution of the agroforestry
through the succession of the species. Each color indicates a phytophysiognomy, that is, the
landscape of dominant species, the skin of the agroforest, in the beginning we have placenta 1
and 2, that is, what stands out are vegetables, tubers, beans, cassava, pineapple, papaya , but
already within this system we have the seedlings of the trees of the future growing, including
seeds and tree seedlings of all strata and life cycles. If at the time of planting we do not have
seeds of some species of the future, such as cocoa (Theobroma cacao), jequitibá, if we want to
insert them in the future, at some point we will have to do a more drastic pruning, producing a
clearing and introducing these species, of seeds or seedlings.

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The chart above complements the chart on the previous page. It is divided into three parts:
colonization system, accumulation system, and abundance system. The colored circles on the
previous page repeat dozens of times between each dashed line (each dashed line can last for
200, 300 years). At each phase change we have a more fertile species replacing less demanding
species.
Colonization system
Characteristic of places where life begins, as close to volcanoes. With the cooling of the lava
occur the first life forms like fungi, bacteria, algae, mosses and lichens. This system also occurs
in slopes of roads, gullies, where all the soil has been removed exposing the subsoil.

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Ohia, Metrosideros polymorpha, Myrtacea colonizing a lava field, 1960 eruption south of Kona, Hawaii.
Accumulation system
When we destroy a primary forest with fire and for some years we grow this place, the soil is
impoverished, we lose carbon, the soil becomes acidic, the phosphorus is fixed, the aluminum
becomes bioavailable and toxic to the roots of many plants . In this place now only plants of the
accumulation system grow, are plants that have a higher carbon / nitrogen ratio, the leaves are
more coriaceous, there are almost no fruits for large mammals, many degraded areas present at
this stage. If the system has not yet completely lost its resilience, nature may take many years,
depending on the biome, to establish the first plants of the abundance system, this can happen in
10 years or in 100, 200 years, depending on how deep the undoing. Today in our country we
have thousands of hectares where the ecosystem has completely lost its resilience, as in image
10, where we have a cage fetus (Pteridium aquilinum), the place was destroyed by fire many
years ago, and can remain so for more than one hundred years, despite the seed bank being next
in many places nature can not itself recreate the original forest destroyed by humans. Thus, to
implant our agroforests in these places we need "courageous" species, species that can grow in
soils with pH 4.3 and 1 ppm of phosphorus and undetectable micronutrients in the soil analysis.
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We need species that bridges to systems of abundance again, for this we have several examples
such as eucalyptus, daisy (Tithonia rotundifolia), brachiaria (Brachiaria spp), piteira (Agave
americana), sisal (Agave sisalana), pigeon (Cajanus cajan ), stylers (Stylosanthes spp), assa fish
(Vernonia polysphaera), lobeira (Solanum lycorcapum) and many other native and exotic
species, fundamental for this task. With these species we can even dispense with the use of
external inputs. We call this system of accumulation because we are accumulating the energy of
the Sun, complexing it in matter, increasing the content of organic matter, which will improve
the physical, chemical and biological conditions of the soil, feeding its biocenosis, allowing the
establishment of more plants demanding, moving to systems of abundance.
TIPS
● Avoid taking steps back in succession, for example planting a kind of accumulation in a
system of abundance, such as planting lobeira (Accumulation System) in a land that
grows very well mombaça grass (Abundance System).
● Remove from the system plants from previous systems, for example goat's beard
(Cyperus spp) (Growing System at the beginning) growing between mombaça grass (the
most advanced accumulation system), the goat's beard grass must leave the system and be
removed with a root, because if it is pruned only, its cycle is much faster (and produces
little biomass) than the mombaça, that is, it will flower before and transmit this
information of aging to every system, hindering the development of plants.

Figure 10 - Fetus Cage, Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, Goiás - Brazil.
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Abundance System
Regardless of the stage of destruction we find a place, be it a desert, a degraded area, an
abandoned poultry, a mining pit, a land of culture, our goal is to bring you into a system of
abundance. We can say that it is our luxury system, we can produce it without the help of
external inputs, produce food in abundance for large mammals like us, because the land is
extremely fertile and balanced. Currently in his farm in Bahia, Ernst is forced to thin papaya
(Carica papaya), yam (Colocasia esculenta), which are born abundantly in the clearings opened
in the old agroforestry, already produced corn and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) with only 5
millimeters of rain , and from his experience he states that agroforests above 500 hectares are
capable of producing an increase in rainfall, influencing all surrounding region. After 30 years
and 800 hectares transformed into forests, 17 streams on his farm, ran again water and became
perennial.
The succession graphs of the species give us an idea of how this transition between species
occurs. Along with the transition of species, the soil will improve on all parameters, whether
chemical, physical or biological. IMPORTANT: We started the agroforestry planting all species
of all systems (accumulation and abundance), each system having representatives of each
stratum. However, if we start our agroforestry in a primary forest, we do not need to plant
species from the accumulation system, since we are in a higher level of fertility, we can
introduce in this case for each floor (stratum) species of abundance system, such as: low stratum:
cocoa, coffee. Average Stratum: cupuassu cambuca, citrus, rambutam, mangosteen, achachahiru,
abiu, peach, etc. High stratum: apple, avocado, jackfruit, cherry from Rio Grande, acerola, cajá,
etc. Emergent: Brazil nut, pecan, pear, pequi, etc. We cite the species in relation only to the
stratum, often the mentioned species do not occur in the same biome. When we begin in a system
of accumulation, we can plant the fruit species we want, each in its proper stratum, but we need
external input, that is, how the soil and the environment as a whole are not adequate to receive
these species, we have to help with a "crutch", such as organic fertilizer, limestone,
thermophosphate, rock dust, etc. Unlike conventional or organic farming, in synthetic agriculture
this external help diminishes with time, as we approach the system of abundance, as we are
walking in the flow of nature, where small changes generate great transformations. Thus species
are succeeding in time, as we prune the whole system, we accelerate this succession. As an
example, we started an agroforestry with vegetables (placenta I and II), secondary I, secondary II
and climatic, with representatives in all strata. We pick up arugula, radish, coriander, mustard
after 30 or 40 days, then come the harvest of lettuce, broccoli, eggplant, yacon, baroa, cassava,
pineapple, papaya, the vegetable garden and the trees are established, as the first emergent
emerges the embaúba (secondary I, lives 10 to 20 years), just below it we have the guapuruvu
(secondary II, lives from 30 to 50 years) and down there growing much slower we have the
dandá (Joanesia princeps) - System of Abundance - lives more than 80 years, all three are
emerging, but each presents a different life span. Embaúba and guapuruvu are system of
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accumulation, while the dandy is closer to the system of abundance. When we can embaúba, the
guapuruvu stretches a little more under the influence of several factors: the vigorous regrowth of
the embaúba, which stimulates the other plants to grow as well, the pruning material of the
embaúba manages all around him, the largest entrance of light increases the photosynthesis of
the guapuruvu, if there was no guapuruvu, the embaúba would stay longer, waiting for someone
to occupy its place, the time arrives that the guapuruvu begins to overcome the embaúba, this
then says goodbye, fulfilled its function in the path to the climatic forest, now the guapuruvu
occupies the top of the forest and underneath it grows the dandy, every pruning that occurs in
guapuruvu repeats the cycle, greater entrance of light, induction of growth throughout the
system, through the mycorrhiza and growth hormones, so the dandá is growing and the day
arrives that surpasses the guapuruvu, this one says goodbye, because as emergent it does not
tolerate other trees on its canopy, if there were not the dandy, and guapuruvu would remain in
the system until it became completely old and we would be stuck in a system of accumulation.
Thanks to this dynamics of management, we greatly accelerate the speed of change, the
phyto-physiognomy, the face of our forest. Remember: Syntropic agriculture is disturbance,
pruning, necessary to pulse the forest, for there to be growth, sprouting, growth hormones in
profusion, system rejuvenated, young, with vitality. It is as if we were training a high
performance athlete, always worked with its maximum power, and with an advantage: no
doping, all natural. What we explain for these three species of the emerging stratum is valid for
species of all strata. The economic plants of each stratum can also contribute to pruning, for
example, in the cultivation of cacao, according to Ernst, its pruning can reach 30% of what is
pruned in the system. If at the beginning of our agroforestry we can collect and plant seeds of
trees of all strata, at the moment that the dandá begins to dominate the forest as emergent and we
have the complete strata, we can imagine that in the upper stratum the production of the jaqueira,
avocado , cajá mirim, cajá mango, mango, in the middle stratum we have cupuaçu, rambutam,
medlar, citrus, etc., in the lower stratum we have coffee, cocoa, jabuticaba and as we can have
yams, ginger, saffron, taioba etc. In choosing what to plant we have to take care to avoid
bringing plants that do not fit in our place, either because of the excess cold, the heat, or the
amount of rain. For example, in the Amazon, in a study conducted by Professor Paulo
Cavalcante of the Emílio Goeldii Museum, grow more than 150 species of native and exotic
fruits. Plants not adapted to the local climate can suffer stress and never get to produce, or even
die, or even be prevented from forming fruits because they do not tolerate rain at the time of
flowering, as in the case of mango. The mango grows well in practically all biomes in Brazil, but
only produces fruits in those that the period of the drought coincides with its flowering.
With the forest of food and noble woods formed, now where do corn, okra, cereals, tomatoes
come in? Well, at that moment we have a thriving forest that does not fit them anymore, they
need more light, but to make them easier, we take down our agroforest, where we think we can
improve it, where a stratum is missing, or where we want to introduce a that we do not have, and
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at that time we planted our cereals, our tomatoes, our vegetables, now no need to use fertilizer, or
any input, because since we started the soil has improved a lot, now we have a forest soil, higher
pH, available phosphorus rose, aluminum became unavailable, and by the excellent fruit flavor,
the micronutrients returned. And there are more, we will produce vegetables and grains,
conserving the soil, using the minimum water, thanks to the thick mulching, to the deep soil
profile that we created, with the help of millions of microorganisms. And at that moment we
plant our cereals and vegetables, we also plant the fruits we want, the noble woods we want,
along with them we will also have the valuable natural regeneration, which we will manage by
pruning and driving along with the species we plant, respecting the percentage of 95% of the
success of an agroforestry is management, 5% is planting, if we delay or abandon management,
they begin to emerge.

24
conflicts, such as excessive shading, aging trees, etc. for which nature always has a solution, but
these conflicts are usually resolved on a larger time scale, in the time of nature. When we
manage agroforestry, we accelerate nutrient cycling and set more carbon than natural primary
forests, Steenbock (2013). We sought to adjust the tree strata by pruning, allowing each tree to
have the necessary amount of light or shade, covering with pruning material the discovered or
weak places, placing the trunks in a level curve in places with slopes, aiding the infiltration of
rainfall . When we begin the implantation of an agroforestry it is important to identify where the
area is located, we can do this by observing the species present, if we have noble woods and
long-lived species, it indicates a better soil quality if we only have white woods and trees of short
and medium life cycle, accumulation system, but important is also to observe the indicator
species, many species give us information about pH and if there are compacted layers in the soil.
These telltale plants, contrary to what many think are not plagues, but valuable tools that nature
has to heal the open wounds most often by the human being himself. Imagine if they did not
have them, who would support a pH of 4.5 in the soil or grow in an extremely dry and thick soil.
Often plants that are deficient in nutrients are hyperaccumulating with their own nutrients. When
they die, they will have created a rich niche of that scarce nutrient, preparing a better place for
the next plants in succession, as is my case (Bacharis coridifolia) . Learn more about indicator
plants in Appendix I.
The Importance of Stratification
Recreating similar productive forests in form and function to the original ecosystems of the
place, involves constructing stratified forests.
In nature each plant is within a context. Walking inside a primary forest in the Amazon, we can
observe, for example, that cupuaçu is not at the top of the forest, there are other trees above it
and there are trees below it, cupuaçu is a medium stratum plant.
If we do the same thing in Central America, we can find an almost white acerola tree at the top
of its forest, although a 3-foot acerola tree is much smaller than a cupuaçu tree at its place of
origin, (the forests are much lower than in the Amazon), so what determines the stratum of the
plant is not its height, but the forest from where it originates, its center of origin. Who first
studied in detail the centers of origin of the cultivated plants was the Russian researcher Nikolai
Ivanovich Vavilov (image 11).

25

Figura 11 – Vavilov.
In the first half of the twentieth century, Vavilov traveled for more than twenty years on the five
continents harvesting seeds of agricultural plants such as wild and cultivated corn, potatoes,
grains, fodder, fruits and all kinds of vegetables. At the same time, he collected data on the
places he visited and on the languages and cultures of his people. Its collection of seeds came to
be the largest in the world, with approximately 200,000 species that were stored and seeded in
more than 100 experimental stations in the then Soviet Union. In his travels, Vavilov noted that
agricultural biodiversity was unevenly distributed: while in some places plants remained, others
had little or nothing to offer. He also noted that the places with the most agricultural biodiversity
have different topographies, types of soil and climate. It also determined in its time that
agricultural biodiversity came mostly from eight perfectly identifiable nuclei: China (where
soybeans originate), India, Middle East-Central Asia, Southeast Asia, mountainous regions of
Ethiopia, Mexico, and Central America cradle of the corn), the central Andes (from where it
comes to the potato) and the Mediterranean. Even today, these geographical areas are known as
Vavilov centers, real refuges for biodiversity, essential for human consumption (figure 12).
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilov.

26

Figure 12 - Main Centers of Origin of Plants Cultivated in the original Vavilov study.
Brazil is the center of origin of many cultivated plants, among them pineapple. What is the
stratum of pineapple? Looking at a conventional planting of pineapples we might think that it is
from the upper stratum or emergent because it is planted in monoculture alone. But how does
pineapple occur in wild nature? In the Brazilian Cerrado we have a species of pineapple that
naturally thrives - Ananas ananassoides, very similar to the pineapple we grow - Ananas
comosus. If we go inside the National Park of the Chapada dos Veadeiros, a protected area of
240 thousand hectares in the heart of Brazil, interior of Goiás, we can find several populations of
pineapple naturally vegetating. When we come across one of these populations, we can clearly
see that pineapple is a plant of the low stratum, according to the following images.

Figure 13 - Natural population of pineapples fruiting under the canopy of trees.
27

Figure 14 - Natural populations of pineapple in the interior of the National Park Chapada dos Veadeiros

Figure 15 - Pineapple plant native to full sun - Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park.

Figure 16 - Pineapple native to full sun, Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, Goiás.
28
What is the difference between the pineapples of images 13 and 14 for the pineapples of images 15 and
16? The pineapples of images 13 and 14 occur a few meters from the plants of images 15 and 16. There is
a noticeable difference when we are in the field: the pineapples of images 13 and 14 are protected by the
tree canopy, while the plants of images 15 and 16 are in full sun. In this population all the plants that we
find in the full sun, about 5 plants, were stunted (with little growth) and with the oldest leaves dried, while
the plants under the forest (hundreds of them) were much larger and with a bright green on the leaves
(Image 17).

Figure 17 - Pineapple plants under the canopy of riparian forest.
Images from 18 to 20 were obtained by placing the objective of the camera pointing at the sky, from the
eye of the most vigorous pineapples and with fruits, that is, what the pineapple plants "see" when they
look at the sky .

Figure 18 - View of the sky from the point of view of pineapples.
29


Observing the great vitality of the plants under the forest with those in the full Sun, there is no
doubt that the pineapple is a low stratum plant. The populations of pineapples followed precisely
the riparian forest of the creek. When we respect the ecophysiology of plants, we prevent them
from entering into stress. Stress is one of the triggers that trigger diseases, insect attacks,
influencing fruit quality, we often buy a pineapple in the market with the bark still very green,
but when we open it we see that its pulp is already glazed, medium transparent, the fruit although
green is past, the excessive heat of the Sun has matured it forcibly. Just as a Dutch cow (native to
the cold climate of Europe) goes into stress when the ambient temperature rises above 16 ° C,
causing frequent mastitis, mycoses of helmet, etc. , a simple pineapple fruit can also "stress" if
we do not provide the ideal conditions in which it has evolved for thousands of years. If we
create adequate conditions for our cultivated plants to manifest their full productive potential,
30
with no need to force production with chemical fertilizers, hormones and pesticides, we will be
able to create beautiful, highly productive fields of crops, and 22.

Figure 20 - Citrus orchard shaded by breadfruit, Alto Beni, Bolivia (2001).
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Figure 21 - Agroforestry with citrus, banana, coffee, cocoa and dozens of native and exotic trees in between lines, guided
by Ernst Gotsch. Owned by Joaquin Milz, Alto Beni, Bolivía.
If the big fruit companies understand that, if the big grain producers make small changes in their

fields, and the machine companies offer machines adapted to work with the trees, it will be
possible to completely abandon the use of agrochemicals. Ernst Götsch has been working with
some major producers and the results are impressive. At the Toca farm, organic orchards of
orange with greening infection, which received 57 sprays annually allowed in organic
agriculture, with the adoption of syntrophic agriculture, were no longer sprayed and there was a
reduction of greening. This result was obtained by removing the heavy tractors, planting the
mombaça in between the lines and in the lines of citrus was planted cassava, banana, eucalyptus
and native trees. Why did the introduction of a few species in this field of citrus and the
withdrawal of heavy machinery bring about all this change? Because we have changed the
paradigm of production. Before the grass in the interline was a pest to be eliminated, in
conventional fields we use herbicide, in the organic agriculture trowel and even electric shock. In
syntropical agriculture we treat grass as our NPK plant, we cut with sharp mowers for rapid
re-sprouting and transmit this vigorous growth information to every system, pruned trees
(eucalyptus, banana and others) are crushed and the scattered wood in the fields , producing
humus more stable in the soil (originated from cellulose and lignin), the regrowth of the trees
stimulates all around them to grow as well. At peak summer the citrus has the shadow of the
eucalyptus and in winter the sun to warm it, small changes, great transformations. After the story
of the pineapple, I wonder how useful it would be if one of these big TV networks working with
nature could produce a series of films showing what the natural ecosystems were like from
where our cultivated plants came, with all the technology of today we could produce very
educational films.
Distribution in the occupation of the different strata
Here we perceive the mistakes that many agroforestry make in many places, including many
times as a technological package by government agencies, where they argue that agroforestry is
very good, ecologically very good, solve many problems, recover soils, improve soils, but to
feed mankind we must use the principles of the Green Revolution (pesticides and chemical
fertilizers).
According to what is being focused on, depending on the main economic culture, an
occupation is observed as follows: 1 - Strong weight in the high and emergent strata in
situations of accumulation (accumulation systems), when we want to focus on
accumulation, for for example, a plantation targeting only timber. Examples: modern
plantations of eucalyptus or pinus. And these modern monoculture plantations are not
intelligent, because we could produce 30 to 50 percent more wood and of better quality if
we planted pine and eucalyptus together, if we planted mahogany and eucalyptus together,
we would produce much more because we have eucalyptus as an emerging one produce a
32
straight and much longer shaft and mahogany as a high stratum, which is below the
eucalyptus, so we could move towards optimization of the crops, to the optimum point. We
need to understand this, because when Ernst speaks of an emerging stratum occupying 15
to 25%, it is not any forest that has this, a forest when it is at the peak of large animal feed
production, then, at that moment it has that percentage (15 to 25% of emergent shade) and
we have the possibility of trying to make our plantations reach this percentage, just look at
the plantations of Ernst Gotsch em sua fazenda na Bahia, lá podemos identificar todos os
strata - emerging, high, medium, low, well clearly. In the beginning when we began to
plant, we planted the strata in much greater density than they appear in a mature, climax
forest. For example, Ernst has been developing models where plant 2220 eucalyptus per
hectare, and this is one of the secrets, the emergent ones we can not, but we thin, and the
upper and middle strata we can when we have the low stratum as production focus
(example of lows: cocoa and coffee), or if we had avocado and litchi (high and medium) ,
they would be part of the production focus, but also provide much of the organic matter
that the field produces, so the emerging ones we will thin in the course of time.
2 - Natural - also for medium-late phase in almost all forests in their climactic phase in
humid and subhumid climates, more pronounced at altitudes outside the tropics, on the
counterface. When the occupation of the strata occurs naturally without human
intervention, the forest reaches a point where the middle and lower strata disappear,
jabuticaba no longer produces, cocoa leaves, orange trees take their leave, jaqueira leaves,
even in the natural place of these fruit trees, that is, in the inspiration, in the system of
accumulation, the forest becomes empty in the lower strata (more medium and low), we
still have chestnut producing (emergent), the forest still supports large animals, but we
have no more an abundant production of fruits. We will only have abundant production
when we have a disturbance (opening of clearings, for example), the disturbance is
productive, it is a precondition, and at the same time it increases photosynthesis, the
disturbance is not a loss, the passage of hurricanes in America Central, is a blessing, as it
increases cocoa production in the following year. The disturbances here are quite different
from the anthropic technomorphic disturbances we cause to all the biomes of the planet, a
real unnatural devastation, because it does not consider the principles of the system itself.
3 - In places and situations that due to their ecophysiological preconditions would be
subject to periodic disturbances, but not due to lack of presence of the causative vector
(wind, storms, large animals etc), or in the case of inadequately designed agroecosystems.
managed (lack of pruning). So these systems become eternal, lifeless systems of
accumulation.
At the other extreme we have systems, by their nature, extreme systems of abundance,
which show at their peak the following distribution:
33
Stratum Average
15 - 25% area shaded by emergent 20%
30 - 40% shaded area by high 35%
50 - 60% shaded area by medium 55%
80 - 90% shaded area by low 85%
10 - 20% of area shaded by creepers and new regeneration 15%
Summing up we have 210%

To reach these 210%, forests know many means and use numerous strategies. It is up to us
to choose the most suitable and efficient in the management of our agroecosystems. Note
also that there are ways to regulate the shade provided by the plants that make up the
strata of the emergent, high and medium species that are natural to the species itself, that
is, their quality of being deciduous or not. As the deciduous species, observe more or less at
what time of year and how long, that tree is without leaves, because being without leaves
offers little shade for the vegetation below them. Extreme example: the cashew tree in the
semi-arid is almost stripped of leaves, from a moment the rains allow the growth of
vegetation under him, in his ecosystem we can thus shade much more the areas that he
inhabits, taking care not to exceed 30 to 40 % shade (cashew is high stratum). The same
corresponds to species such as Ceiba pentandra, jaracatiá, cajá, etc. which remain for a
long time and at the critical moment, without leaves, which generates the stimulus (the
floral induction) for the fruiting of the plants under them.

Principle 3 - Covered Soil and Dense Tillage

Real value of soil
Why is soil more precious than oil? Why we can (and have done for thousands of years) live without oil,
but we can not live without arable soils, especially with population growth and with the oceans almost
empty. Solo is a sensitive material that needs care. The soil is not a factory, a deposit for toxic substances,
nor a support for our crops; the ground is not dirty, not a large paved road or a parking lot for cars.
Agricultural soils are rare. Forty per cent of the Earth's soils are degraded, so every teaspoonful of fertile
soils is precious - crucial to human life, food, safety, essential to environmental services, reducing
poverty, creating sustainable development. The soil feeds us and we are responsible for it. If it is not
protected by vegetation, it is swept by the winds or washed by the rains.
Canadian researcher, doctor in solos, Celine Caron.
http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Spring2015/AgriculturalSoil/tabid/2937/Default.aspx
One of the fundamental principles that Ernst Götsch works is the soil cover, only it will return fertility to
34
the soil again, and this can be well observed in his farm in Piraí do Norte, BA. Since the implantation and
throughout the management of the agroforestry, Ernst always observes where the places with little
mulching are and places in these places a lot of pruning material. Ernst has been working extensively with
Mombasa grass in between the lines of perennial crops. The mombaça grass is low stratum and of the
same genus of the colonization, being demanding in soil fertility. When we start a field we always have to
keep in mind which species would be best to cover the soil quickly, we do not have a recipe, we must
observe the soil fertility, the climate, the stratum of the chosen plant, etc., for example, low fertility we
can opt for less demanding plants, such as bracharya, andropogon, or other grasses, remembering that the
brachiaria cycle is shorter than the mombaça, because every time the grass blooms we must to avoid
senescence information, negatively influencing and slowing the growth of the crops that are consorted
with it. The brachiaria decumbens and brisantha because they are decumbent (spreading more to the
sides), end up entering the lines of the crops, making difficult the handling, unlike the mombaça that has a
cespitoso growth. In poorer places we can change the mombaça by the andropogon that also has a
cespitoso habit. So that we do not get stuck in recipes we have to know the ecophysiological function of
each plant, so we always choose the best plant for each situation, because if we work with recipes and not
principles, when we come across some place where this recipe does not fit , for example, a place where
Mombasa does not grow due to the weak soil, we will not know what to do. Working with principles, it
would be like a cook who understands the function of each ingredient in the recipe, in the lack of one
ingredient he can substitute for another knowing the function of that absent ingredient. In very dry places
like the caatinga species are searched that grow well in environments with little rain, such as forage palm,
sisal, purple pinhão. The more we know where we are and the plants adapted to this place, we will have
more possibilities of consortia. In the settlement of the Contestado in Paraná, the settlers are using vetch
as winter crop on the mombaça grass, due to the frosts, which the grass does not support, thus still can
produce biomass even in winter (Messerschmidt, personal communication). In the Sítio Semente, in
Brasilia - DF, has been used with great success, shredded wood obtained from the streets of the city. The
trees of the squares and streets are pruned and in the proper place crushed by an implement coupled to the
tractor. In the year 2016, Ernst Götsch consulted in Martinique for a producer who exports fruit to
Europe. In April 2017 this producer sent some images of the changes made, recommended by Ernst. The
vitality that the fields transmit (images 22 and 23), well covered with Mombasa grass in between the
lines, which is scraped and placed on the banana lines and trees, trees are pruned annually and crushed,
feeding the streets of grass, with this example we can see the several principles acting at the same time:
maximization of photosynthesis, stratification, soil covered, planting densified, etc.
35

Figure 22 - Martinique, plantation oriented by Ernst Gotsch. Home 2016, image: April, 2017.

Figure 23 - Martinique, plantation oriented by Ernst Gotsch. Home 2016, image: April, 2017.
We present below the results of researches by Professor Gilles Limieux of the University of Laval,
Canada (apud Agroecologia Hoje, n. 15, 7/8, 2002), which evaluated the results of applying wood chips
to the soil.
After analyzing the by-product of conifers cuttings with respect to their nutrient content, this material was
36
applied experimentally in agricultural soils, based on 150 to 200 m3 / ha. This fertilization gave good
results in the productivity of potatoes, fruit trees and strawberries. The results, however, were even better
when using AMRF (fragmented rameal wood chips) - hard wood, particularly oak (Quercus rubor).

Effects of the application of AMRF (Fragmented Ramosal Wood Shavings) on the soil
After the application of AMRF (fragmented rameal wood chips), the following soil modifications were
observed:
● After 3 months, most of the chips had already been metabolized by soil biology;
● The color of horizon A became darker, approaching a very dark brown;
● Organic matter content increased by 3% in only 12 months;
● Soil pH increased at the rate of 0.5, in most soils tested;
● Available phosphorus and exchangeable magnesium contents showed a significant increase.

Effects of the application of AMRF (fragmented rameal wood chips) on crops
a) In temperate climate it was observed that:
● Potato tubers with increased dry matter content by 30% and obtaining higher levels of
phosphorus, potassium and magnesium;
● Wheat and oats had an increase in the weight of 1000 grains and in the number of grains
per spike of the order of 30%;
● The nutrient content of the straw decreased with the application of AMRF, showing clear
stimulus to the physiological processes of fruiting;
● Strawberries: 300% increase in fruits harvested;
● Increased resistance to aphids;
● 50% reduction of the need for additional water (irrigation);
● Significant increase in resistance to frost;
● More pronounced fruit flavor.

b) In subtropical climate it was observed:
● In tomato, an increase in productivity and quality that varied between 900 and 1000%;
● The need for additional irrigation has dropped by 50%.
c) In tropical climate it was observed:
● In corn, a huge productivity jump was observed, increasing from 1 to 4 tons / ha by the
application of AMRF (fragmented rameal wood chips) from Acacia auriculiformes,
Tectona grandis, Gliricidia sepium, Senna siamea, Azadirachta indica.
Why rameal and not trunk wood (sawing and sawing)?
37
The branches and branches, at first with a diameter of 7 cm or less, form young wood with the
following qualities:
- High proportion of bark;
- High content of soluble polyphenols (shorter chain);
- Source of fundamental organic matter for soil aggregation;
- Precursors of a highly reactive humus;
- They concentrate 70% of the nutrients of the tree;
- The C / N ratio is in the range of 30: 1 and 170: 1, the trunk is in the 400: 1 to 750: 1 range.
It is worth mentioning that in tropical climate as in Brazil the processes of growth and
decomposition are quite accelerated, when compared with the temperate climate. For example,
farmers from the Mario Lago settlement, Ribeirão Preto - SP, where one of Ernst 's students,
Namastê Messerchmidt, began the implantation of agroforests, they report that in the lines of the
vegetable beds where they put thick trunks, the soil with the time becomes darker than in the
flower beds, where they cover with grass or AMRF (fragmented wood chips).
Why lúzine-derived humus?
Several natural ecosystems are powerful soil humidifiers. Several soils are born marked by the
abundance of humus, among them, soils with marked natural fertility.
It is important to note that humus formed under forests proves to be, as a rule, more stable and
durable than that formed by grass vegetation. Also humus formed by organic fertilization, with
manures, compost, green manures and management of the forest, does not reach the degree of
durability of that of arboreal origin.
Size of chips or fragments
In general, the size of the chips is dictated by the time provided for the decomposition and
transformation of rameal wood into active humus in the soil, in a given climate.
- In colder or drier climates, possibly mountaineering, temperate or semi-arid, smaller shavings
(from 2 to 4cm) offer a larger contact surface of the wood with the processing agents.
- In hot and humid climate, in the tropics and subtropics, these agents invade the wood quickly,
reducing the need to chop the wood in small trimmings. It is necessary to chop the wood in
mechanized agroforestry systems, to avoid jamming of the machines. In smaller-scale,
non-mechanized agroforestry systems, the fragments may be 10 to 40 cm in length.
The application of AMRF (fragmented rameal wood chips) is old in agroforestry systems.
Whenever there is a pruning of the system, there will be an AMRF input to the ground. In this
sense, more drastic prunings not only provide more light but also give back to the soil the
biological dynamics lost with deforestation, creating the foundations for a lasting fertility and
38
able to generate abundant harvests. Experience has shown that the fertilization with wood
generates abundant fruit. In the years 2000 and 2001, Ernst Götsch performed a series of
experiments at his farm in Bahia, testing several tree densities per m2, which impresses the
vitality of the crops after one year of planting. Ernst knocked down aged corns and planted along
with pineapple, trees at varying densities: ranging from 1 tree per m2 to 15 trees per m2. The
experiments were rigorously inspected, the ones with the best results were those with 15 tree
species per m2. Image 24 is from an experimental field planted in the year 2000 and image 25,
the same field the following year. The pineapples grew a lot, producing fruits of 1.5 kg, an adult
man, crouching passed beneath the leaves.

Figure 24 - Deforested capoeira, planted with pineapple lines and tree seeds in various densities, Fazenda Olhos d'água,
owned by Ernst Götsch, Piraí do Norte, BA.
39

Figure 25 - Same location of image 23, after one year of planting, Fazenda Olhos d'água, property of Ernst Götsch, Piraí
do Norte, BA.
Perhaps this is one of the most difficult principles to explain, because when we speak of planting

in high density, we can understand when we grow corn in monoculture, up to 90,000 plants per
ha, or when we plant soybeans, wheat, we are planting thousands of plants per hectare, we are in
the case of corn or other grains, increasing plant density takes into account factors such as soil
fertility, availability of water, etc. If we increase above this limit the plants may even grow, but
we will have a lower fruiting, yield per hectare. But when we think of a system that can have 40
to 80 species of plants per ha, the parameters of traditional agronomic science do not help us
much, we need other criteria. Ernst developed criteria to evaluate the sustainability of a synoptic
plantation (See Appendix II). If we want to have a cocoa plantation at 5x5m spacing, we have to
plant 100 feet of cocoa in this space, if we want to have a jackack every 10x10m, we have to
plant 100 jacks in that space, for some species we have to plant 10 times more, another 100 times
more, or 200 times more. Because ?
When we begin, for example, in a fallen soil, mistreated by generations, we have to plant the
species that can grow in this soil, very close, as an illustration, see the case below. We are
carrying out syntropical plantings on a farm more than 100 years old, located in Chapada dos
Veadeiros, interior of Goiás, Brazil. In many areas of this land, the soil is exposed, no plant can
40
occupy the place, for almost a hundred years an excessive exploitation by the cattle has
exhausted the soil, we are using the minimum of inputs and species that manage to occupy the
place, for example , piteira, daisy, wolf fruit, assa fish. The cigarette holder we planted in the
weakest places every 20 cm. Anyone who has ever seen an adult cigar holder in a cultured land
knows that at least the plant has a circle with a diameter of up to 3m. We plant every 20cm, so
that we can with the growth of the cigar holder, go pruning its leaves and covering the whole
soil, as the plants grow, this area becomes small, we will then thinning the cigar holders. This
thinning is fundamental, because it is the one that feeds the soil, turns mulch, which turns to
humus, we can repeat this process by planting trees in high density, as they grow and tensions
begin to arise, we can select among the best plants and prune the others, building fertility as the
system progresses. For example, in a plantation in Casimiro de Abreu, RJ (Atlantic Forest), Ernst
planted as medium stratum cupuaçu (native to the Amazon, but growing very well in the Atlantic
forest) and cambuca (myrtaceae of the middle stratum). Cupuaçu begins to produce at 6 or 7
years, but the much slower cambuca of growth reaches the middle layer and begins to produce
with only 15 years. As both trees are from the same stratum and are close, tensions begin to
emerge between them, space has become small. At the age of 15, cupuaçu has already produced
many fruit crops, but at the moment we are facing a positive dilemma: do I keep the cupuaçus
and cut the cambuc? or do I give preference to the cambucs and short the cupuaçus? As Ernst
says, we have to choose between Nirvana, Paradise or the Land of the eternally happy!
Remember the 4 dimensions that the agriculture works? The fourth dimension is time and it is
closely associated with high density planting. Thanks to the high density planting and
agroforestry management with the thinning and pruning we drive the plants until the adult stage
to a spacing that reproduces the appropriate shading for each stratum.

Principle 4 - Selective weeding and pruning (always remove plants

from the previous succession).
Whenever we start the maintenance of an agroforestry it is recommended to first make the
selective weeding. Selective weeding is a term created by Ernst, which means to remove from
the system those plants that are from previous systems of succession, for example, when we
plant Mombasa and in the middle of it is born bearded goat grass, when performing the
Mombasa cut we must remove, if possible with the root, the goat's beard, because this is a
system of accumulation well before the Mombasa, and that also has a very precocious flowering.
Every time that the bearded goat's grass blooms is indicating a maturation of the system and thus
slowing down the development of the mombaça, it's the same when the evil mega flourishes, the
black bite, the burdock grass, the advance, and many others grasses and short cycle herbs that are
abundant in accumulation systems. These herbs have the important role of covering the soil,
concentrating scarce nutrients, preparing the environment for the plants of the future, etc. As the
41
system progresses and soil improves, more efficient, biomass-producing, and carbon /
nitrogen-closer plants begin to emerge, our role is then to accelerate natural succession by
removing plants from previous systems and creating better opportunities for emergence of the
plants of the future, so we take off the black bite and use it to protect a panda, or mombaça. In
order to understand better, let's imagine a field of heap (Imperata sp). We started this field
without inputs, we concentrated the cane planted on islands, in these islands we planted trees of
more advanced accumulation systems, such as lobeira, fish, monkfish, angico. locality or in the
Cerrado biome) in places with a slightly better soil weed cassava. When the canopy of these
islands decomposes, it feeds on the soil, it can appear naturally in these local bushes of
Brachiaria Brisantha, in many places the sprout, next to the islands there will always be a fertility
gradient, and the plants that appear show this gradient, are the indicator plants. The emergence,
for example, of systems of accumulation systems such as donkey's tail grass, foxtail grass,
indicates that the soil is still acid in these places (see appendix - indicator plants). As the trees
grow and are pruned, we introduce better quality materials for humus formation, acidity
decreases, bellygrouse (Portulaca oleraceae) appears, a plant indicative of better soil fertility, tree
pruning and improved soil fertility, we introduced plants such as passion fruit, fruit, cassava and
all other cultivated plants that we are interested in establishing in this place, along with native
trees such as fruit trees and noble woods. The construction of the above agroforestry was carried
out without introduction of any external input, other than manioc seeds and manioc. In this same
field, if we want to start from a more advanced stage of the succession, with more demanding
plants, we will have to use crutches, such as organic manure (manure, compost, castor bean pie,
etc.), thermophosphate, rock dust, limestone. This application of inputs must be careful and as
homogeneous as possible, because we will create an artificial condition of fertility, introducing
plants that demand a fertility that of course did not exist in that field. This is how we destroyed
practically all of the Brazilian cerrado: we improved soybean cultivars, corrected the acidity of
the fields with limestone and increased fertility with NPK, with these simplistic measures, we
destroyed the soils by erosion and compaction, we reduced the rains, we littered thousands of
streams and rivers, and we destroy the most biodiverse savannah on the planet.
With this correction of the soil, we planted corn, fruit, vegetables, trees of noble wood, banana,
etc. A good indicator if we are heading for the abundance system is the natural emergence of
indicator plants. For example the field is covered with guanxuma (Sida sp), which indicates that
we did not do a good decompression of the soil, or appears a lot of brave peanut, molybdenum
deficiency. We plant mumbaça, but the brachiaria appears in many spots. Artificially pushing
can be done, but it requires careful attention and a lot of observation, otherwise we put inputs
that are not used, and the field insists on staying in previous stages of succession, thus observing
all bottlenecks like nutritional deficiencies, physical aspects of Soil (compaction, soil type
(sandy, clayey, mixed) and biological: who will be the most efficient producers of biomass, since
the manures and added compounds do not form stable humus and soon will be consumed by soil
42
biology, will be discovered and will be washed away by the rain, retreating in its fertility and
being again occupied by the black, brachiaria, marmalade grass, cage fetus, goat's beard etc.
Evaluated all these factors and carefully choose the species and the inputs, When we can create a
stable and homogeneous fertility for the soil, ectada with the planting of the correct species, there
is no space for the appearance of plants of previous stages of the succession, because our plants
are with the maximum vigor, occupying correctly and quickly their strata, we are "flying low".
One of the fundamental principles for the growth and fruiting of our agroforestry is the pruning,
they are the driving force behind agroforests, as Ernst says, the cat's leap. When Ernst began
work in Brazil, he received a completely devastated land, named after the Fugidos Fazenda da
Terra seca. It was later discovered that the original name of the place was Fazenda Olhos d'água.
So he planted thousands of seeds in high density, and when he was thinning, pruning, he
discovered the great input of energy that came with pruning, as if it were a rejuvenation of the
system, or as Renate said, a reprimavising. Nowadays, several researchers have been discovering
the great subterranean network formed by roots and thousands of microorganisms that keep the
trees connected, so the nutrients, carbon, hormones, are translocated from one plant to another,
causing every system to resonate through of positive feedback loops. There are some basic tips
that Ernst gives us to guide us in the art of pruning. Whenever we are pruning an agroforest,
preferably start from top to bottom, so that we can lessen the damage of the fall of larger
branches, which are cushioned by the lower branches, which could not be there if we could from
bottom to top. First prune diseased, poorly shaped, crooked and overlapping branches. We can
drastically prune trees that resist this management, prune in the bone, as they say, leaving only
the main trunk, or prune keeping the architecture of the canopy, it all depends on the context, the
neighborhood, the goal of pruning. The shadow percentages in each stratum are not stony
clauses, we can increase the shading on one floor if we decrease in the anterior or posterior and
vice versa. Generally systems that support large mammals, like us, have a large investment of
trees in the medium and low strata. Already systems of accumulation have an increase of the
high stratum. But one thing is certain, we will only really understand these principles when we
plant and manage our own agroforestry, only practicing will we gain confidence and wisdom.
Principle 5 - Concentrate energy, generate biomass efficiently.

Concentrating energy means agglutinating resources in lines or islands, since we often work on
fallen soils, impoverished by agromineration, we agglutinate the grasses, the herbs, in lines or
islands and we plant in those places our crops, that can receive the luxury of some input, such as
dung, rock dust, etc., to help them grow in these places. Brachiaria is considered by many people
as a bad, aggressive, invasive plant that is difficult to control, but understanding how nature
works, we use this great Brachiaria force to work in our favor, we stroke 1m wide lines and we
affamos, then we brush 5 , 10 or 15m on each side and accumulate in this line, planting what we
want in the middle of the line, with this cover, no weeds will grow and our cultivation will be
43
better fertilized and protected from dryness. If it is in the summer, 30 or 40 days later we will
again have the brachiaria grown between the lines and so we will successively dominate the field
with the strength of the brachiaria itself, in lines or islands (figure 26).

Figure 26 - Concentrating resources in rows: grass grazed and accumulated in the planting line.
Currently Ernst has been applying this principle a lot with the use of Mombasa grass in the
middle of the trees. The mombaça grass, because it has the characteristic of being of the stratum
low and cespitoso, growing upwards, not being decumbent like the braquiária brisantha,
facilitates the handling, because it does not invade so much the lines of trees.
Preferably build the lines in the north south, observing the topography, relief, plants that like
more sun, the afternoon sun, the morning sun. The proposal determines the design. Plants that
grow fast, see who sucks who. Everything is resource, everything is fertilizer. Resource to follow
the flow of nature to potentiate life processes.

Principle 6 - Ecophysiology of plants and ecophysiological function of

plants.
Plant Ecology studies the adaptation of the physiology of the organisms to the environmental
conditions, for example, in relation to native plants of the caatinga, three mechanisms were
observed regarding the adaptation to drought: the resistance of the species that remain leafy in
the dry period, as the juazeiro (Zizyphus joazeiro Mart.); the tolerance of deciduous species that
lose leaves during the dry season, such as umbuzeiro (Spondias tuberosa Arr.Cam) and the
escape of annual plants that complete the phenological cycle during the rainy season, such as
Brachiaria plantaginea Hitchc., commonly known as million (Araújo Filho & Carvalho, 1997).
44
Many species of the caatinga exert a strict control of transpiration, mainly due to the closing
speed of their stomata as a reaction to the increase of the vapor deficit of the atmosphere even
under favorable conditions of soil moisture (Ecophysiology of plants of the caatinga) José
Moacir Pinheiro Lima Filho, XXVII Northeastern Meeting of Botany, 2004). The above
definition makes clear the importance of the right choice of the species that will compose our
planting, since they need to have the necessary instruments to resist various factors of the locality
where they grow, such as low soil fertility, compaction, prolonged soil discharging, or dry
prolonged, low temperatures or high temperatures, insolation. Hence the importance of Vavilov's
work. We need to find out the source context of the plants we are using, to reproduce this context
and to reduce plant stress. Knowing deeply the plants we work with can shape our plantations
and thus get rid of the ready recipes. It is not enough to know only the plants of our biome,
because of the accelerated process of destruction of all the biomes of Brazil and the world, which
contributed to global warming and climate change, what we are witnessing is the profound
change of the climate in each biome. Vast regions of the Amazon are savannising, in large areas
of the cerrado, in the last 4 years (2014 to 2017), it rained half of the historical average,
remembering the caatinga. In many degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest, cerrado plants grow.
What this shows us is that to recover these areas we will need plants from the cerrado to recover
the Amazon, from plants of the caatinga to recover the cerrado (which is more difficult, because
the soils of the caatinga have in general a fertility far greater than the Cerrado soils). That is, the
conditions created with the destruction of biomes, in many cases do not allow the local species to
colonize that area again, the ecosystem has lost its resilience, urgently requiring our intervention,
but these species may not be enough either, we need then of exotic species from other parts of
the world, such as eucalyptus, Acacia mangium etc. These species are not pests, or destroyers of
springs and soils, actually used in the context of the sintrópica agriculture, are saviors of the
mother country, since the eucalyptus can create our peroba, our cedar, jabuticaba, orange or
mangaba, whatever, since it is used dynamically, as we have seen in previous principles. For
example, in Australia, in the Melbourne region, eucalyptus is native vegetation that protects
springs (Primavesi, personal communication). These species are bridges to the establishment of
highly biodiverse and productive primary forests (Ernst Götsch - RJ, 2016). Knowing the
ecophysiology of plants we can transform them into a tool, so we introduce plants with a
necessary ecophysiological function at that moment, for example, we introduce plants that resist
drought with the function of resisting drought in that degraded environment and in this way
create moisture for the plants of the future, we introduce plants that grow on poor soils, which
provide phosphorus, with the function of creating the fertility of the future.

Principle 7 - Synchronize plantings. Edges should be pruned.

Established crops, the transition to syntopian agriculture. Often when we opt for the syntropical
45
agriculture, we already have on the farm areas with perennial crops installed, either organic or
conventional, with the application of chemical or organic fertilizers, agrochemicals or grouts,
and often with heavy machinery, in short every technological package of agriculture industrial.
When Ernst started the work of Toca Farm, in São Paulo, this was a farm that produced organic
fruits. Ernst received one of the areas with organic management and with citrus already planted
at 2 years of age. After the syntrophic management, spray spraying was abandoned and lighter
machines were used to reduce compaction of the soil and to avoid the death of the grass by the
rotation of the machines. When we choose to work with what is already planted, it is necessary
to evaluate how we can apply all the principles in that place, whether it is feasible to keep the
previous crop or not. For example, if we have a plantation of rubber trees already in production,
the first step is to identify which stratum that crop belongs to, after this step we evaluate if it is
possible to introduce the other strata. In the case of this adult planting of rubber tree it is
necessary to perform a drastic pruning, since it would be impracticable for the introduced plants
to grow under a shade of adult plants, aged and with a percentage of shade far superior to that of
the high stratum, since they were planted in monoculture. The rubber tree is good for pruning
and regrowth vigorously, all pruned material will serve as fertilizer for the other strata that we
are introducing, for example, after the pruning of the rubber tree, we can introduce as low
stratum by seedlings, coffee, cocoa, jabuticaba, medium stratum - banana silver (grows well
under the shade of the high stratum), citrus, achachairu, rambutan, etc., remembering that the
rubber tree was planted in monoculture and the high stratum in the syntropical agriculture
occupies only 40% of the shade of its floor, we have an emerging stratum, we can raise this
shading to 50-55%, because we do not have emergent strata (20% shade), it is not necessary to
simply add, because the shadows on different floors, allows a greater light input than the sum of
the shadows of different strata on the same floor, so we will have to keep the rubber trees - high
stratum, always with this percentage of shade, if we want production in the lower strata. In
between the lines we can plant as low stratum, mombaça grass, so that it feeds the lines of fruits
and rubber trees. With this we will have a rejuvenation of the rubber trees, besides a greater
income by the harvest of all the fruits planted below her. What usually happens is that in
conventional monoculture crops we have a stress on plants due to several factors: - plants such as
coffee, are of the low stratum, so it is fundamental to have the other strata above it to avoid the
stress of the plants. It may be thought that coffee in full sun produces more, but it goes very well
under the canopy of the upper strata, the problem of planting it single is that we are tied to the
excessive use of external inputs, since the single crop has no one to feed the coffee, there is no
pruning of the upper strata, there is no litter formation that causes an increase of humus in the
soil, bringing greater fertilildade, greater accumulation of water in the soil, resistance to diseases.
We cite coffee, but could be cultivated plants of any stratum such as orange, pecan, peach, apple,
mango, banana etc. - In between the lines of crops they often dominate grasses or herbs that
bloom fast, like brachiaria, and that if poorly managed, not pruned at the right time, mature and
cause a braking in the growth of the trees and the abstraction of water from the atmosphere by
46
mycorrhizae . From the moment we understand this, we seek to colonize between the lines with a
grass that is not of the same stratum of the cultivated trees; for example, in an orange planting
(medium stratum), we plant Mombasa that is low stratum and not elephant grass that is high
stratum, which would conflict with the orange and would give a mess when pruned, because it
regrows easily and would occupy the line of trees making management difficult. Often we can
only carry out a transition from tree plantations to monoculture trees already installed for
synoptic agriculture, if the trees accept pruning, since the pruning will allow synchronizing the
vigorous budding of the already installed trees with the sprouting of the introduced seedlings.
Sometimes this pruning means a cut. Another example is coconut (emergent). Ernst Gotsch
carried out a work in 2017 for the company Ducoco, where he recommended the substitution of
grass between the lines for a dry panicum (green panicum) grass, recommending also to insert
between the rows (9m wide) alternating rows of cashew and neem (high stratum) 4.5m x 1m,
intercalating with the planting of cassava. The cashew as a high stratum does not fight with the
coconut and will still produce fruits and nuts. The neem will be used for pruning, fertilizing the
lines of coconut and grass. Perhaps the rule is when we are faced with a perennial cultivation in
monoculture to ask ourselves: is it possible to stimulate this cultivation ?, what plants can I
introduce to better cover the soil and occupy all strata if possible? Is it possible to do this
mechanized? Edges must be worked - the height of the lying tree defines its destination → if we
can, cut or leave. Often when finishing a plantation, on one side of the field we have a forest, or a
plantation of eucalyptus, pine, etc. To avoid a negative influence on our crops we have to
manage these trees by pruning the edge into the forest, removing the negative influence of a
stratum out of sync with our field, which would cause a depression in the growth of the plants.
This negative influence on the field corresponds to the length of the lying trees. So we can do a
pruning in bevel and transfer all pruned material to our field by fertilizing it. Remembering that
it is much more damaging to our planting not to be bathed by the light of the rising sun, than by
the light of the setting sun.
Principle 8 - What every being is doing well.

The visible part of nature to the human being is infinitely less than the non-visible part, but in
most cases humans do not have the ability to look beyond the material, physical aspect. We are
unable to see what happens in the soil, what relationships are established between plants,
between microfauna and flora. We can hardly observe the animals if we do not use camouflage
techniques, hiding places, if that is not enough, there is still an unknown world in terms of
energy, empathy. Rupert Shaldrake, has proven through dozens of experiments that animals are
sensitive to fields of knowledge inaccessible to most humans. It is a common fact that animals
detect a tsunami before it happens. In the book, "Dogs Know When Their Owners Are Coming,"
Shaldrake shows the animals' ability to detect the owner's thought thousands of miles away,
animals have the ability to access subtle regions that the author has called morphogenetic fields.
47
The good news is that we can develop this capacity with the plants, when we work immersed in
nature, we become one with it. Ernst then proposes that whenever we come to a place and find
working animals (what many call plagues) we must ask, whether for ants, termites, insects, etc. -
What are you doing well ?, and before each intervention (pruning, handling etc.) ask: what can I
do to optimize the processes of life and bring more life to this place? Be a loved one in this
place? By asking these questions we are receptive to nature's answers.
In Nature, everything is in balance. Currently, the common bean crop under conventional
management does not support the whole range of agrochemicals to combat the diseases
and pests that arise. The intensive management of the bean crop, mainly under irrigated
production system, increased the high demand for the technological package of
production, soil preparation, selection of varieties, fertilization and management of pest
and disease control and grain harvest. The use of high chemical load in the form of
fertilizers and agrochemicals in a cerrado soil vulnerable to intensive production
interfered negatively. In addition, it broke the ecological balance of organisms, biological
cycles and the harmonic relationship of communities, creating a population dynamics
restricted to pests and diseases - resulting in problems that limit the production of
common bean. The mean spray number of insecticides and acaricides is 14.8 applications,
in addition to 9.2 for the control of diseases in irrigated systems. In the rainfed system,
the use of agrochemicals is 17.3% lower, but its average productivity is 21.6% lower than
irrigated. It can be observed that exaggerated numbers of applications performed for the
control are not having the proper efficiency and the losses begin to become evident,
which results in vulnerability: numerous soil diseases such as, mainly, white mold,
root-of-rhizoctonia, fuzzy wilt, and stem-gray rot.
In nature, it is common to find a range of microbiological diversity in flow, chains and
networks of development and dynamic relationship of populations. It is known that
within this biodiversity, less than 0.06% are phytopathogenic organisms of the bean in
relation to the microbiological world.
http://edcentaurus.com.br/agranja/edicao/749/materia/3649
When we adopt the syntropical agriculture we reestablish the biocenosis of the soil, the
community of microorganisms, only it in balance can bring back the health of our crops.
The research of the Plant Pathologist, Celso Tomita, demonstrated above, proves that it is
possible to completely abandon the pesticides reactivating life in the soil.

CONCLUSION
In order to succeed in the implementation and management of our agroforests, two points are
fundamental: 1 - To know deeply all the principles of the syntropical agriculture; 2 - Know the
needs and characteristics of all cultivated plants that grow well in our region, along with all
native and exotic plants that go well in our place, which means that we must know: place of
48
origin, popular name and scientific, resistance to pruning, stratum that the species occupies in the
forest, presence or absence of deciduous leaves, canopy architecture, flowering and fruiting
season, utilities for the human being, type of root system, growth speed, seed qualities dormancy,
etc.), if the species occurs naturally on good or weak soil, type of soil (clayey, sandy, mixed),
type of relief in which more occurs (lowering, springhead, boqueirão, top of morro etc.), life
cycle of the species (placenta, secondary I, II, or primary). This knowledge implies the
valorisation and rescue of local and traditional knowledge, which is an important basis for
agroforestry success. With this syntropic look of the world, there is no doubt that we will be able
to build agroforestry similar in form and function to the original forests of our place. Our brain as
well as nature presents itself as a network and current research shows that even our DNA is not
linear, the manifestation of genes depends more on an epigenetic network and cell metabolism to
manifest, than on DNA itself, so with this information in our "blood" we will easily establish the
necessary connections (among species) when we face the need to build agroforestry anywhere on
the planet, which was once a forest.

49
APPENDIX I INDICATOR SPECIES
In the relationship that follows are some more common plants and the indications that they
provide. In this relation, after the common name, the scientific name and the type of soil where
its appearance is most frequent. The soil types are designated by the following abbreviations: A
= agricultural land; AP = agricultural land left for pasture formation; P = grass; C = closed.
Modified Rural Guide April, 1986.
- Amedoim bravo (Euphorbia heterophylla) - A - "dairy, invades soybean fields, indicates soils
where there is imbalance of nitrogen with micronutrients and especially with molybdenum and
copper.
- Ariri (Cocos vagans) - P - Appears on very burnt soils.
- Assa fish (Vernonia spp) - P - Indicates dry cerrado soils with slabs.
- Bacuri (Platonia insignis) - C - Palmeira do Cerrado. It indicates fertile solids, both physically
and chemically.
- Beard of goat (Aristida pallens) - C - Typical grass of landscape with fire. Indicates poverty of
phosphorus, calcium and potassium. Freshly sprouted, cattle accepted, Banishing the fire, can
give rise to other fodder.
- Beldroega (Portulaca oleracea and others) Pasture resource in drought (NE). Appears on the
best soils, protects the soil.
- Berneira or Maria mole (Senecio brasiliensis) - P - Indicates soils (pastures) with a thick layer
between 40 and 120 cm depth.
- Bitter grass or sugar grass (Digitaria insularia or Trichachne insularis) - A - P Appears on
anabandoned crops and pastures on wet patches where the water stagnates after rain. Never
indicates soils with good productivity.
- Amorous grass or burdock grass (Cenchrus echinatus) - A - P - Indicates very decayed, eroded
and densified agricultural fields. It also appears on pastures where trampling was intense in
adverse weather. Drowned or soil, it disappears.
- Grass grass or capybara grass (Echinochloa crusgalli) - A - Common in irrigated rice fields. It
indicates the formation of a "reduction horizon" (rich in toxic substances) just below the surface
of the soil. Eliminating the reduction horizon - by drainage - the grass no longer germinates.
- Pig Hair (Carex sp) - A - P - Appears on very compacted and anaerobic soils, with a whitish
calcium level. Highly benefited by the fires.
- Hairy grass (Trachypogon spp) - Typical fire landscape, no burned back.
- Capim caninha or grass colorado (Andropogon incanis) - P - It appears in soils temporarily
50
soaked and periodically burned (RS). Indicates acute phosphorus deficiency. Fertilized with
phosphate, it becomes good forage. In rotating grazing it tends to disappear.
- Favorite grass, grass grass or grass (Rhynchlytrum roseum) - Indication of very dry, decayed
soils.
- Marmalade grass or Papua grass (Brachiaria plantaginea) - A - Appears only on plowed or
barred soil. Good forrage. Indicates soils in decay.
- Burdock grass (Andropogon bicornis and others) - A - P - Indicates very acidic soils, with low
calcium content and an impermeable layer between 60 and 120 cm deep. Breaking the
underground slab, it disappears.
- Foxtail (Setaria geniculata) - P - A - Indicates poor soils. It makes a little green mass and
flowers early. During drought it can be a forage resource. Typical of road borders, where
compaction is greatest.
- Caraguatá or gravatá (Eryngium ciliatum) Bromeliacea typical of grasses with acid humus.
- Carquejas (Baccharis spp.) - P - They prefer terrains that in the rainy season, stagnate water,
from the subsoil to the surface, but which in the dry season, are very dry. They depend on soil
poverty in molybdenum.
- Chirca (Eupatorium spp.) - P - Indicates good conditions for cattle and only appears in soils
rich in molybdenum and in which where there is rotary management of pastures.
- White carnation or stinking herb (Tagetes erecta and T. minuta) b- A - They settle in large
numbers on soils infested by nematodes.
- Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) - P - It appears in pastures (S), indicating the presence of
boron in the soil. Cattle appreciate it as an aperitif. New leaves are edible for humans.
- Farmer or white sting (Galinsoga parviflora) - A - It appears on soils with excess nitrogen, but
deficient in micronutrients. Apparently it benefits from copper deficiency.
- Cage fern or fern fern (Pteridium aquilinum) - Indicates acidic and soaked soils.
- Silk grass, from the donkey, paulista or bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon) - A - P - Indicates
very compacted, heavily trampled soils. The soil where it appears is much richer than that where
the amorous one grows, but it is less compacted.
- Guaxuma, mauve or broom (Sida spp.) - Indicates where the subsoil is densified, or where the
topsoil has been washed away by erosion. Indicator of more or less thick slab, which restricts
root growth in general, but which guanxuma can overcome. Appears as a result of
aração profunda demais, de pisoteio de gadoou de movimentação excessiva de máquinas.
- Leguminosas em geral (Papilonaceae, Cassia, Mimosoideae) – indicam, no solo, presença de
phosphorus, which they increase. Missing potassium are dominated by grasses. Lacking calcium,
51
they are attacked by scale insects, such as pigeon pea, and their seeds are easily parasitized by
drills.
- Mentrasto (Ageratum conyzoides) - A - Indicates the physical improvement of the soil.
- Mio mio (Bacharis coridifolia) - P - It appears only in shallow soils. Indicates mainly
molybdenum deficiency in soil. In fields taken by mine, when burned, it disappears, because its
ashes contain so much molybdenum that they take away the capacity to grow.
- Nabisco or turnip greens (Raphanus raphanistrum) - A - Boron and manganese deficiency
indicator.
- Pine or jatropha (Jatropha curcas) - Indicates soils densified by the use of fire and exposure to
the impact of rains, alternating soil erosion and floods with droughts.
- Samanbaia da taperas (Pteridium aquilinum) CPA - Always indicates high levels of aluminum.
- Male toad, mother of thatch or lancet grass (Solidago microglossis) - A - Indicates very acidic
soils, with pH between 4.5 and 5.2.
- Sapé (Imperata exatalta) - A- P- Acid rich acid in aluminum, indicates a pH between 4.0 and
4.5.
- Tiririca or dandá grass (Cyperus rotundus) - A - Indicates very acidic, densely soaked and
temporarily soaked soils - or anaerobic by the loss of macropores. It also favors magnesium
deficiency in general.

APPENDIX II ERNST GÖTSCH

ERNST GÖTSCH establishes the following criteria for measuring the sustainability of an
AGROFLORESTAL SYSTEM DIRECTED BY NATURAL SUCCESSION (Workshop given by Ernst
Götsch, Alto Beni, Bolivia, 2001):
Ground:
● Percentage of soil surface covered by organic matter;
● Composition of the covering material (the larger the lignified and / or coriaceous fraction, the
better);
● Coverage thickness;
● Activity of microflora and microfauna;

Vegetation:
● Vegetal cover (%);
● Vigor and health of vegetation;
● Stratification of the dominant consortium;
52
● Development, complexity and individual distribution of each species;
● Complexity, health, vigor and development of the consortiums that will dominate in the system of
which the dominant consortium is (is) part; or, in the case where the latter was dominated by
primary species, regenerative vigor of the same system;
● Capacity of the system to increase, by its self-dynamics, the quality and quantity of consolidated
life, both in the "sublugar" in which it is, and in the whole Planet Earth.

Ecological Impact:
● Proximity of the agroecosystem to the natural and original ecosystem of the place as to its mode
of functioning ecophysiologically, and as to its dynamics and its impact on the whole Planet
Planet;
● Impact of the use of inputs considering all current from its production to the direct and indirect
impacts caused by its use.

Economic:

● Cost-benefit related to labor requirements for its implementation and maintenance, the latter in
the short, medium and long term;
● Use of inputs;
● Cost-benefit considering the total impacts caused by the system in relation to the development of
the planet's resources (soil, biodiversity, drinking water, hydrocarbons, petroleum, etc.),
atmosphere, etc. Including costs caused by the impacts caused by production, transport and trade
in inputs).
Social:
● Distribution of the requirement for use of labor during the year;
● Accessibility (dependence on the use of high technology and other investments for its
implementation);
●
● Dependence of external factors (credit, market etc).
● Faced with such complexities the implantation of Agroforestry Systems Directed by Natural
Succession depend to a large extent on:
● an effective didactic instrument so that the farmer understands all the principles involved in the
implantation and maintenance of a successional agroforest;
● Availability of labor;
● Access of the farmer to his main means of production, which is land.

53

Ernst Götsch-Principles-of-Syntropic-Agriculture

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Ernst Götsch-Principles-of-Syntropic-Agriculture

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Principles of Syntropic

according to Ernst Götsch

Principle 1 - Maximize photosynthesis

Image 1- Ernst Götsch's work at the Semente Seed (Brasília-DF).

Principle 2 - Natural succession and stratification

If the big fruit companies understand that, if the big grain producers make small changes in their

Principle 3 - Covered Soil and Dense Tillage

Perhaps this is one of the most difficult principles to explain, because when we speak of planting

Principle 4 - Selective weeding and pruning (always remove plants

Principle 5 - Concentrate energy, generate biomass efficiently.

Principle 6 - Ecophysiology of plants and ecophysiological function of

Principle 7 - Synchronize plantings. Edges should be pruned.

Principle 8 - What every being is doing well.

APPENDIX II ERNST GÖTSCH

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