That remains to be seen. But what we are pleased to see is that the first pioneers are emerging from the ranks of professional farmers who are taking advantage of the opportunity to consult with our allied syntropic designers.
On 10.10. consultations of the first major synthropic designs were held in the Czech Republic with an experienced expert on this topic, Renke de Vries from Germany.
A huge credit for this goes to the scientist and teacher Radim Kotrba, chairman of the academic community of the Czech University of Agriculture (CFA), who works at the Faculty of Tropical Agriculture, a researcher at the Research Institute of Animal Production (VÚŽV), a member of the board of the Association of Private Agriculture (ASZ) and a member of the board of the Czech Society for Agroforestry (CSAL).
Due to his sympathy for syntropic agriculture, he submitted a proposal to the Livestock Research Institute to incorporate these methods in a planned model, demonstration and experimental pasture. This would be based on the research farm at the Research Institute of Animal Husbandry in Netluky.
This would involve creating a broader mix of different grazing methods depending on the type and conditions of the livestock being farmed (e.g. silvopasture, regenerative, synthropic or winter grazing of intercrops on arable land), with accurate monitoring, the benefits and drawbacks of these pasture maintenance methods not only for the organisation and zootechnics of the several livestock species, but also for production, economics, animal behaviour and welfare, the soil, as well as for the different pasture cover combinations, biodiversity and carbon sequestration or methane emission reduction.
This would be research focused not only on poultry, pigs and dairy cattle breeding but also on rearing, which would make this project exceptional given the insufficient attention paid to natural rearing of dairy cattle. Pasture and outer fencing would separate different types of landscape features such as windbreaks, alleys, tree lines, and wetlands for demonstration and microclimatic benefits.
Since Renke has the experience and passion for combining synthetic systems with livestock farming, we recommended that he be consulted. As part of this, Renke was given a tour of the land set aside for the experimental plots, the site options and experimental design structure were discussed, and further collaboration was arranged, including the use of certain species of trees and shrubs.
The next area visited was the Vodňanský Farm, run by the sensitive hand of Erich Vodňanský. He is trying to look after the family farm of 500ha using regenerative farming and agroforestry techniques and incorporating landscape features such as meadows and copses.
The main goal of the consultation with Erich Vodňanský was the implementation of the synthropic design in the existing and future hop garden. The native environment of hops is floodplain forests, the presence of trees is very natural for hops and it is even thought that it could promote an increase in the quality, especially in the content, of the final product. In contrast, in normal hop production, the plant grows mostly in full sun, in monoculture and with bare soil. The plants thus suffer from lack of moisture, wind and heat.
We are very pleased that interest in synthetic agriculture in the Czech Republic is growing, as is the demand for expert advice in this area.
We hope that both projects will be successful and that they will be able to inspire other farmers.
