65 The history The first time we struck the soil with a hoe in Portugal, the sound of metal clanging against rock echoed sharply. The land wasn't just compacted, like many we'd encountered in Brazil, but also shallow and riddled with stones. Each location, as expected, has a unique soil composition. But we soon realized this wasn't just geology at play. This soil was steeped in history. A history of agricultural use far exceeding anything we'd experienced in Brazil. Just as esteemed European museums showcase the legacy of Western tradition, the soils of that part of the Iberian Peninsula bore marks of the many civilizations that had cultivated these lands since the dawn of agriculture. This scene unfolded in 2018, when we moved to Baixo Alentejo, southern Portugal. Afterward, we lived in southern Spain before settling in Italy, where we've been since autumn 2021. Working with Syntropic Agriculture in each location has been a privilege, allowing us to apply everything we learned from Ernst Götsch in Mediterranean contexts. Although the soil, rainfall patterns and plant species were different from those we used to work with in the tropics, we had in our favor the fact that Syntropic Agriculture has never been based on a one-size-fits-all recipe. Rather, it's a conceptual and practical framework that empowers practitioners worldwide to create agroecosystems that are similar in form, function, and dynamics to the natural and original ecosystems of each given place. In regions with a deeply rooted agricultural and pastoral tradition, the first challenge is discerning what this natural and original ecosystem might look like. Paleobotanical records indicate that, at the beginning of the current interglacial period, southern Europe and northern Africa were covered by diverse forests. These included deciduous oaks and large elms in the upper canopy, with ash, terebinth, and rowan trees below. This suggests the natural and original ecosystem of the entire Mediterranean basin is a multilayered, semi-deciduous forest with biodiversity characteristic of advanced ecological succession. Our goal, therefore, should be to reach a similar flourishing state, integrating agriculturally valuable species into these systems. The present The initial conditions at Amadeco – a 9-hectare farm on Puglia's Adriatic Coast, Italy – were nothing but challenging. The soil lacked organic matter (below 0.5%, according to lab analysis), salty underground water was unfit for irrigation, biodiversity was low, and sparse summer vegetation left the soil exposed during the most critical period of the year. This hardly resembled the land that once supported a rich plant community. Additionally, we are in the Xylella fastidiosa infection zone, a bacterium linked to a disease that is devastating traditional olive groves, a cornerstone of local identity. We acknowledge that this region bears the scars of a recent phytosanitary crisis that dramatically altered the landscape, impacting economies and communities. This context suggests we’re in a turning point in which solutions that respond to local challenges are as necessary as they are urgent.
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