Hello, I am Victor Pires

I've been living in Syntropy since 2015.
I can still see and feel the first time that I've encountered a Syntropic agroforest organism, I couldn't understand it, but I new I wanted to be a part of it.
All of a sudden, the world made sense to me,
It's a world worth living in!

My Journey into Syntropic Agroforestry

Write your awesome label here.

Hello, I am Victor Pires

I've been living in Syntropy since 2016.

I can still see and feel the first time that I've encountered a Syntropic agroforest organism, I couldn't understand it, but I new I wanted to be a part of it.

All of a sudden, the world made sense to me,

It's a world worth living in!
Write your awesome label here.

A bit of my story

I am no different than the majority of humanity these days, coming from the heavily populated city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, nature was not something that was around me much and food was the thing we bought in the supermarket!!

But for some reason, I’ve always found myself in the mud puddles, rolling in the dirt or grassy ground and putting unidentified grubs in my mouth... seems like I’ve grown a taste for nature after all!!

A bit of my story

I am no different than the majority of humanity these days, coming from the heavily populated city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, nature was not something that was around me much and food was the thing we bought in the supermarket!!

But for some reason, I’ve always found myself in the mud puddles, rolling in the dirt or grassy ground and putting unidentified grubs in my mouth... seems like I’ve grown a taste for nature after all!!
Write your awesome label here.
Nature has always brought me numerous questions and puzzles, which, after landing in Australia a week short of my 18th birthday in 2001, drove me to an apparent endless academic journey, to try and understand its mysteries and intricacies.

A bachelor of environmental science brought me general concepts but nothing tangible. A Master's in environmental planning allowed me to see that the environment is not really part of the decision-making process. And finally, a PhD in urban agriculture put the nail in the coffin -

"humanity has no idea about how to take natural systems into proper consideration, despite our imminent dependence on it!!"
Write your awesome label here.
Nature has always brought me numerous questions and puzzles, which, after landing in Australia a week short of my 18th birthday in 2001, drove me to an apparent endless academic journey, to try and understand its mysteries and intricacies.

A bachelor of environmental science brought me general concepts but nothing tangible. A Master's in environmental planning allowed me to see that the environment is not really part of the decision-making process. And finally, a PhD in urban agriculture put the nail in the coffin -

"humanity has no idea about how to take natural systems into proper consideration, despite our imminent dependence on it!!"
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.
A light was shown when I met Permaculture in 2005, and for the first time, natural systems were at the heart of decision-making and reality started to make sense, but it was very difficult to bring permaculture to fruition in the urban areas where I was living.

It sounded amazingly, awesomely, incredibly real but not quite tangible for my context. After all, I had no land to dig swales, no bamboo to build compost toilets and no skills to do wonders with the falling rain…
A light was shown when I met Permaculture in 2005, and for the first time, natural systems were at the heart of decision-making and reality started to make sense, but it was very difficult to bring permaculture to fruition in the urban areas where I was living.

It sounded amazingly, awesomely, incredibly real but not quite tangible for my context. After all, I had no land to dig swales, no bamboo to build compost toilets and no skills to do wonders with the falling rain…
Write your awesome label here.
I guess my search had to continue, often with more questions than answers, but slowly I started to realise that in the activity of growing food many of my concerns were being dissolved. Something just happens when my hand touches the soil (even if it was store-bought potting mix) to plant my food, and when watering and interacting with plants (the earth's life force), almost out of nowhere, ideas (and answers) started to emerge...!!!

In 2016, out of nowhere, while managing a hydroponic farm, I came across Syntropy, soon after the release of the Life in Syntropy documentary.  Although I had come across the work of Ernst Gotsch in 2005 when I was doing many Permaculture courses in my sabbatical year back in Brazil, I was not ready for it then, but now, I certainly was.
Write your awesome label here.
I guess my search had to continue, often with more questions than answers, but slowly I started to realise that in the activity of growing food many of my concerns were being dissolved. Something just happens when my hand touches the soil (even if it was store-bought potting mix) to plant my food, and when watering and interacting with plants (the earth's life force), almost out of nowhere, ideas (and answers) started to emerge...!!!

In 2016, out of nowhere, while managing a hydroponic farm, I came across Syntropy, soon after the release of the Life in Syntropy documentary.  Although I had come across the work of Ernst Gotsch in 2005 when I was doing many Permaculture courses in my sabbatical year back in Brazil, I was not ready for it then, but now, I certainly was.
Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.
My entire life had changed there and then.

I soon got on the plane back home (3 times in one year in fact, oops!!) and made sure I've visited as many established syntropic farms as possible and learnt from the very best, these included - Ernst Gotsch, Patricia Vaz, Henrique Souza, Jua Pereira, Romulo Araujo, Namaste Messerschmitt, Fabiana Penereiro and many others.
My entire life had changed there and then.

I soon got on the plane back home (3 times in one year in fact, oops!!) and made sure I've visited as many established syntropic farms as possible and learnt from the very best, these included - Ernst Gotsch, Patricia Vaz, Henrique Souza, Jua Pereira, Romulo Araujo, Namaste Messerschmitt, Fabiana Penereiro and many others.
Write your awesome label here.

Such inspiration culminated with a collaboration with Scott Hall, where we started the first Syntropic Farm in Australia, called Gabbalah Farm, in Chillingham, NSW.

Also, in another collaborative venture, this time with Tiago Barbosa, we brought Syntropic Farming to Australia officially, when we ran 3 in depth courses at St. Helena, on the hinterland of Byron Bay, NSW, ministered by Patricia Vaz and Namaste Messerschmitt - to this date that was the best syntropic course I've ever been in!!!

Write your awesome label here.

Such inspiration culminated with a collaboration with Scott Hall, where we started the first Syntropic Farm in Australia, called Gabbalah Farm, in Chillingham, NSW.

Also, in another collaborative venture, this time with Tiago Barbosa, we brought Syntropic Farming to Australia officially, when we ran 3 in depth courses at St. Helena, on the hinterland of Byron Bay, NSW, ministered by Patricia Vaz and Namaste Messerschmitt - to this date that was the best syntropic course I've ever been in!!!

Write your awesome label here.
Write your awesome label here.
From then on, my mission became to understand the theory and practices of successional agroforestry (which you can only fully understand by doing), and how to adapt it to the Australian socio-environmental-economic context, which is vastly different from Brazil - as you can imagine!!  

This mission has culminated in another fruitful collaboration, where my partner and I were welcomed onto a friend’s piece of land in Uki, NSW.

There, for 5 years we worked tirelessly to not only regenerate a severely degraded land, but also provide food for our subsistence and harvest much knowledge of the intricacies of playing with plants and other creatures.
From then on, my mission became to understand the theory and practices of successional agroforestry (which you can only fully understand by doing), and how to adapt it to the Australian socio-environmental-economic context, which is vastly different from Brazil - as you can imagine!!  

This mission has culminated in another fruitful collaboration, where my partner and I were welcomed onto a friend’s piece of land in Uki, NSW.

There, for 5 years we worked tirelessly to not only regenerate a severely degraded land, but also provide food for our subsistence and harvest much knowledge of the intricacies of playing with plants and other creatures.
Write your awesome label here.

After years of practice, research and education, not only nature's open secret became clearer and more tangible, but I also had learnt a lot about myself, who I am, and what I am here to do!!!

With that, a new opportunity emerged. An opportunity that was there all along, but I've lacked courage, experience and understanding to take it on.


I am now ready, and I (together with my partner) have moved to Brazil, into a piece of land that my parents have owned for 25 years...
Write your awesome label here.

We are now writing a new story.
A story of love for the self and the land.
Where work is meaningful and life mysteries are revealed.
One day at the time...

After years of practice, research and education, not only nature's open secret became clearer and more tangible, but I also had learnt a lot about myself, who I am, and what I am here to do!!!

With that, a new opportunity emerged. An opportunity that was there all along, but I've lacked courage, experience and understanding to take it on.


I am now ready, and I (together with my partner) have moved to Brazil, into a piece of land that my parents have owned for 25 years...
Write your awesome label here.

We are now writing a new story.
A story of love for the self and the land.
Where work is meaningful and life mysteries are revealed.
One day at the time...

The Masterclass is how I give back

Syntropic Agroforestry is an art, its a marriage between a human being, a piece of land and the cosmos (climate).

It is a living organism that has never existed before, a new creation - a Human-Nature offspring!!

Through the masterclass, I help other humans to engage deeply within themselves, their land and their climate, to give birth a healthy and prosperous agroforest organism. 

The Syntropic Masterclass
is how I give back


Syntropic Agroforestry is an art, its a marriage between a human being, a piece of land and the cosmos (climate).

It is a living organism that has never existed before, a new creation - a Human-Nature offspring!!

Through the masterclass, I help other humans to engage deeply within themselves, their land and their climate, to give birth a healthy and prosperous agroforest organism. 

Qualifications and Professional Experience

Formal Training

PhD in Urban Agriculture
Griffith University, Australia

Masters in Environmental Planning
Macquarie University, Australia

Bachelor of Environmental Science
Griffith University, Australia

Cert. III in Production Horticulture
TAFE, Australia

Greenhouse Technical Management
Tafe, Australia

Water Cycle Restoration
Water Stories, USA

Market Gardening
Market Garden Institute, Canada

Cert. III in Natural Areas Restoration
Tafe, Australia

Cert III in Arboriculture - climbing
Australian Institute of Arboriculture

Land Management and Design
Regrarians, Australia

Agroforestry Financial Planning
DNA Agroflorestal, Brazil

Cert. in Holistic Management
Tafe, Australia

Permaculture Design Course
Permaculture International, Brazil

Post Grad in Biodynamic Silvopasture
Elo Institute, Brazil


Professional experiences

Pioneered Syntropic Farming in Australia

Syntropic educator since 2020
Pioneered Syntropic Online Training

Co-Founder of Gabalah Farm, the first Syntropic Farm in Australia

Founder of Livingness, our ever-expending Agroforestry lab, home, classroom

Chemical-free bush regeneration and landscaping

Manager of production and R&D at Pocket Herbs Hydroponics

Qualifications and Professional Experience

Formal Training

PhD in Urban Agriculture
Griffith University, Australia

Masters in Environmental Planning
Macquarie University, Australia

Bachelor of Environmental Science
Griffith University, Australia

Cert. III in Production Horticulture
TAFE, Australia

Greenhouse Technical Management
Tafe, Australia

Water Cycle Restoration
Water Stories, USA

Cert. III in Natural Areas Restoration
Tafe, Australia

Cert III in Arboriculture - climbing
Australian Institute of Arboriculture

Land Management and Design
Regrarians, Australia

Cert. in Holistic Management
Tafe, Australia

Permaculture Design Course
Permaculture International, Brazil

Post Grad. in Biodynamic Silvopasture
Elo Institute, Brazil

Market Gardening
Market Garden Institute, Canada

Agroforestry Financial Planning
DNA Agroflorestal, Brazil


Professional experiences

Pioneered Syntropic Farming in Australia

Syntropic educator since 2020
Pioneered Syntropic Online Training

Co-Founder of Gabalah Farm, the first Syntropic Farm in Australia

Founder of Livingness, our ever-expending Agroforestry lab, home, classroom

Chemical-free bush regeneration and landscaping

Manager of production and R&D at Pocket Herbs Hydroponics

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