SUSTAINABILITY is a major concern to many Coffs Coast residents, and the City of Coffs Harbour assists residents via its ‘Sustainable Living’ unit.

One of the unit’s current initiatives is a workshop conducted by Marja Jacobsen and Joao Da Costa about syntropic farming.

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“Syntropy is a model of agriculture developed by Ernest Gotsch in Brazil,” Joao told News Of The Area.

“It’s a form of agriculture that regenerates the land in a natural way through a diversification of plants.”

Ernest Gotsch’s farm attracted notice because the land it was on had previously been considered hopelessly degraded by the farming community.

However, in a few short years, he restored it to levels of biodiversity and productivity that compared well with untouched forest regions in the Bahia region of Brazil.

Syntropic farming is described as a type of agroforestry that mimics the structure and function of natural forests to create productive and sustainable food systems.

It involves planting a diverse range of crops in layers and managing them in a way that promotes mutual support and collaboration among different species.

Marja and Joao describe it as ‘bringing life back to the land’.

Day one of their two-day workshop was last Sunday, May 21.

Participants were taken on a forest walk to show them that they were going to be planting next to a thriving forest ten metres away.

Marja and Joao discussed the various aspects of the forest such as soils and plants that characterise the forest and that can be mimicked to speed up the growth of agricultural systems.

The group then collected soil and fallen plant matter to add to the garden rows.

After some theoretical discussions about syntropic agriculture, participants got their hands dirty planting trees, seedlings and cuttings

“We are all about building community through memorable experiences in hands-on syntropic workshops,” Marja said.

The second day of the workshop will be held this Sunday, May 28.

New participants can join by searching ‘syntropic’ in Coffs Harbour on Eventbrite.

More information about Marja’s and Joao’s work can be found at www.balibuddhalove.com/syntropic.