Imagine that you’re hiking in a natural environment. On one side, you spot a traditional coffee or soy plantation. On the other, the green of the forest predominates along with diverse colors of tomatoes, bananas, cassava, corn, and papaya.
Biodiversity is one of the characteristics of agroforestry, but not the only one. Unlike traditional agriculture, based on monoculture and dependent on pesticides and external inputs, agroforestry promotes harmony in nature, creating a more balanced system by integrating food production with tree planting.
Angélica Martins Facirolli and Anderson Arcanjoleto, from Franca, in the interior of São Paulo, had never planted anything until 2014, when they discovered agroforestry. They started in an urban garden and planted in friends’ areas until they conquered their own space, the SÃtio Santa Terra, in 2017.
Today, the former pasture area has 30,000 trees planted by them and more than 70 species marketed in baskets. Among them, coffee, cassava, lettuce, herbs, ginger, yam, banana, papaya, lemon, sesame, okra, jiló, eggplant, peanut, and raspberry.
Angélica and Anderson from SÃtio Santa Terra. Photo: Amanda Fortes
By adopting agroforestry, whether by growing your own food or choosing to consume from those who produce it, we benefit from food diversity, health, and also collaborate with the conservation of the environment.
The importance of the forest for agriculture
Agroforestry promotes a profound change in the way we understand how soil functions and how to promote life. While the advance of monocultures has led to a loss of fertility, energy, and life in the soil, agroforestry promotes regeneration, increased biodiversity, and improved water infiltration. In this way, it contributes to combating the climate crisis, hunger, and to healthier food production, free from pesticides.
In fertile soil, various plants are cultivated together, in a process called intercropping, and organize themselves within the concept of stratification, by “layers” of light and life cycles, making it possible for bananas, coffee, ipe, other fruits, and flowers to coexist together in the same area, exchanging energy and nutrients.
Consulting project from SÃtio da Mangueiras
Consulting project from SÃtio da Mangueiras
Consulting project from SÃtio da Mangueiras
According to João Victor Borsari, agroforestry technician at SÃtio das Mangueiras, forests are able to balance humidity, water retention in the ecosystem, and energy exchange. “From the moment we practice agriculture that preserves this, we generate positive impacts on the planet,” he explains.
Namastê Messerschmidt, an agroforestry specialist with more than 20 years of experience, defines agroforestry as nature’s strategy. “It creates organic matter, organizes different layers, and keeps the ecosystem in balance. Just as the organs in our body function in an integrated way, plants also continuously interact with each other.”
Low dependence on external inputs
The tree, with its deep roots, accesses nutrients in lower layers of the soil and produces high-quality organic matter. While conventional agriculture resorts to urea to accelerate plant growth, agroforestry takes advantage of the abundance of nitrogen — about 78% of the air we breathe is composed of this element — through natural processes. Legumes, for example, establish a symbiotic relationship with bacteria, fixing nitrogen and making it available to other species, such as the banana plant.
The same occurs with potassium. While conventional agriculture depends on inputs such as potassium sulfate, agroforestry uses species that recycle this nutrient. The banana plant is an efficient example in this process, as are grasses, which help mobilize potassium from the soil and distribute it among plants.
Carbon Sequestration
Carbon is one of the main elements linked to the greenhouse effect. Unlike monoculture, which generally cannot fix carbon in the soil efficiently, the agroforestry system maintains this capture process continuously. Organic matter from pruning, branches, leaves, and fruits deposited on the soil incorporates this carbon into the earth. With nutrient cycling, it returns to the plants, feeding the system again and strengthening soil fertility.
Water and River Regeneration
The roots of trees play an important role in the soil’s water dynamics. In addition to growing toward areas with greater water availability, they help pull and retain moisture in underground layers, forming water pockets in the soil. When there are streams or springs nearby, the roots help increase rainwater infiltration and maintain this moisture closer to the surface.
“With more water available and regenerated soil, the environment gradually recovers its natural flows, favoring the reappearance of rivers and springs,” explains João.
Protection Against Droughts and Heat
The presence of trees creates shade, reduces soil temperature, and decreases water evaporation. This more balanced microclimate increases the resilience of the productive system against extreme climate events, such as prolonged droughts and heat waves.
How to Start Agroforestry
In her courses and on social media, Namastê encourages people to start even in small spaces, betting on the advancement from simple to complex techniques.
Foods Produced in Namastê’s Agroforest
– In a small backyard: Start with agroecological combinations for your garden beds, such as flowers with vegetables. Don’t forget to invest in intercropping, such as the integration of tomato, basil, and marigold, for example.
– In an apartment with a minimum of 4 hours of sunlight: Plant herbs, vegetables, and fruits, such as chives, mint, strawberry, tomato, flowers, and medicinal herbs. On an apartment balcony, you can start with a 20×20 inch planter. “Vegetables produce results quickly. In 30 days you harvest arugula, in 45 days, lettuce. They also generate quick learning,” explains Namastê.
– On a property with space for a garden: Here, Namastê recommends two possibilities. Plant the garden among the fruit trees while they grow, or maintain a fixed garden but invest in a flower hedge and plant fruit trees nearby.
– In the agroforestry space: in harmony with the region, you can combine species with different cycles, direct sunlight needs, and lifespans. “The ideal is to start with annual plants, such as rice, beans, corn, squash, watermelon, sesame, and chickpea. In the vegetable garden, add tomato, broccoli, lettuce, and arugula.”
Books like Agroforestry the World from Machete to Tractor and The Art of Storing the Sun and publications available on the Cooperafloresta website help you take the first step.
Furthermore, it is essential to visit agroforestry systems and talk with farmers. The Terra de Ganesh Farm, maintained by Namastê, and Santa Terra Farm, for example, are open for visits in addition to offering courses.
Agroforestry and the promotion of social well-being
A diverse system, like agroforestry, also directly reflects in a diverse society. For this reason, it is important that agroforestry be present in squares, urban parks, and other community areas.
The collective Cangaço Cultural, formed by the residents’ association of the outskirts of Araraquara, in São Paulo, maintains, in a space provided by the city government, an agroforestry system with approximately 1,500 m² of planted area, which benefits the community with over 50 types of fruits, legumes, vegetables, and species such as ipê, jacaranda, and jequitibá, as well as biomass and other crops. Additionally, vegetable gardens were implemented in 160 houses of local residents.
“Agroforestry has a very important social function of reopening the discussion about planting in the outskirts. It is very common to see agroecology being debated in rural areas or by people in better financial conditions. Our concern is to bring this discussion related to the issue of hunger and food insecurity. It’s difficult to sell a dream, but we are showing that it’s possible,” says Flavio Rodrigues.
Agroforestry system at the Gear Tips Training Center
Starting in July, participants in some trainings of the Gear Tips CAPACITAR Program will have access to an agroforestry system being implemented to promote healthy eating and environmental education.
Installed at the historic Fazenda da Glória, in the Serra da Bocaina, in Arapeà (SP), the agroforestry system is in its initial phase and was designed to produce food, increase biodiversity, regenerate soil, and strengthen a closer relationship with nature.
In the Agroforestry System (SAF) under development, vegetables, avocado, fig, ora-pro-nóbis, banana, araucaria, cacao, cambuci, beans, and various other species have already been planted. The farm already cultivates mulberry, persimmon, lemon, and tangerine.
Agroforestry at Gear Tips Training Center
In the course schedule, Mountain Environment Orientation and Navigation (CONAM) is already scheduled for August 29 and 30, and Leave No Trace – Instructor Level 1 for September 1 and 2.