Photo: FiBL

How can agriculture become more resilient to heat, drought, and extreme weather? A research project that combines biodynamic and syntropic agriculture is addressing this question. The Swiss Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), the Demeter-certified farm Fattoria La Vialla in Tuscany, and the “Life in Syntropy” network—initiated by Felipe Pasini and Dayana Andrade—are collaborating to investigate how both concepts can be meaningfully expanded. To this end, syntropic elements are being integrated into an existing biodynamic farming system for the first time on the Fattoria’s olive groves and vineyards. The goal is to determine whether this approach can improve soil fertility, water storage capacity, and climate resilience, thereby ensuring stable yields well into the future.

Farming Modeled After the Forest

Syntropic agriculture is modeled after natural forest ecosystems. Trees and shrubs of varying heights, along with other plant species, provide shade, promote biological activity, generate biomass, and support long-term humus formation. The current field trial analyzes, over several years, the effects on soil quality, the microbiome, and the water balance, as well as crop yields and economic and social impacts. In addition, the practical experiences of the farm’s employees are incorporated into the evaluation.

Fattoria La Vialla is one of the best-known biodynamic farms in Europe. Since the 1970s, the family-run farm has been continuously refining its farming practices and is regarded as a pioneer in sustainable agriculture. “This makes the site an ideal field laboratory,” says SAGST project manager Tobias Leiber with conviction. “At the same time, it becomes clear that biodynamic agriculture is proactively involved in testing new approaches, thereby demonstrating its innovative strength.” Particularly in the Mediterranean region, where the effects of climate change are already clearly felt, these findings could help make viticulture and olive cultivation more resilient in the long term. Furthermore, the findings are intended to help adapt syntropic farming systems to different site conditions and successfully implement them in other regions as well.

A video from the project and an episode of the “Living Farms” podcast produced by the Agriculture Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach (Switzerland) illustrate how syntropic agriculture takes shape in practice and what prospects it opens up for sustainable agriculture. Supplementary background information provides further insight into the topic.