Syntropic Agroforestry

Management Course

Available late 2023

• Through years of managing my agroforestry systems, I have learnt that the most important requisite is to let the system speak. To allow it to inform us of what it needs and when it needs. Our role is to be ready, to upskill ourselves and be able to make the right decisions at the right time.

• This course is about opening up our minds and tool boxes to a myriad of land management concepts and techniques.

• First and for most, we must learn to make approximately right decisions, which means that we need to move from the status quo of an outcome-based mentality, into a value/need-based framework that allows us to remain truthful and flexible at all times - and there is no better tool for that (that I know of) then Holistic Management.

• From understanding ourselves, where we are, where we would like to be and possible pathways to get there, we expand our interactions with the natural world, so we can perceive its directions of movement and work with it and not against it.

• We will dive very deep into the realms of Water, its qualities, properties, and more importantly, how it intrinsically wants to move in the landscape. Water will always show where our mistakes are, but if we understand its powers and behaviours, there is no better allies to our productive system.

• Plant identification and ecophysiology then becomes of paramount importance, as we have to decide what must stay and what must go, while allowing our agroforestry system to have a level of freedom and autonomy as it shows us its emergence qualities.

• Soil structure, physical and chemical properties as well as laboratory tests will be explained and applied to aid in our decision making, especially when we are dealing with a commercial project that cannot afford the luxury of years of R&D, and must start to turn over in order to sustain its existence.

• As we look up at the sky, slowly we start to develop questions and perceptions about the cosmos and how the influences of the sun, the moon and the planets around us can also play a role in our endeavors. We must remember that when dealing with life, the periphery of our planetary realm plays a key role. Biodynamics helps us to connect to the higher realms and allows us to not conceptualise but sensorially experience those subtle but powerful forces.

• As a qualified climbing arborist, it became more evident to me that the game in our agroforests is not about chop and drop, but to develop a much closer relationship of prune and organise. When the goal is to stimulate life, then how we prune, where we prune and when we prune makes huge differences in how our service and productive plants bounce back and continue to contribute to the health, resilience and prosperity of our systems. Appropriate pruning can be the fine line between life and death, or between sluggish growth and absolute pumping.

• Another important consideration revolves our economics around our systems and how best to invest our resources and time. As such, we will look at numerous economic aspects surrounding Agroforestry implementation and management that allow us to make appoximately right decisions.

• This is a very comprehensive course, which is the culmination of my last 20 years of study, research and work. It will surely help you to make decisions and ensure that you can make your agroforestry plan a reality!!
• Open to “graduates” of the foundation course as well as experienced/trained agroforestry practitioners.
• You must have at least one agroforestry system implemented, and hopefully be at least one year old, so you can have a training ground to apply the course content and then consolidate your knowledge.

If you want to know more, please send your expressions of interest to victor@syntropicgardener.com