How we farm
Our Practices
Everything we do on the farm is an attempt to answer the same question: how do we produce food while leaving the land better than we found it?
Syntropic Agroforestry
The foundation of everything we do at Finca Alazán. Syntropic agriculture, developed by Ernst Götsch over decades of practice in Brazil, is a farming system that works with natural forest succession rather than interrupting it. The goal is not to impose a fixed design on the land but to observe what the land is already doing and accelerate it toward productivity and abundance.
We arrange our plantings in layers — fast-growing pioneer species that create biomass and shade quickly, followed by sub-canopy and canopy trees that take over as the system matures. Food plants are integrated at every layer. The farm changes over time, and that change is the point.
- ✓Vertical stacking — using every layer of space from ground cover to canopy
- ✓Succession management — timed interventions that work with, not against, what the plants are doing
- ✓No external inputs — the system feeds itself through biomass cycling
Soil Building
Soil is not a medium for delivering nutrients to plants — it is a living ecosystem in its own right. A healthy soil food web, with its fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and earthworms, does the work that synthetic fertilisers attempt to shortcut. Our job is to feed that web and get out of its way.
We practice chop-and-drop mulching — cutting plant material and leaving it on the soil surface where it decomposes and feeds soil organisms. We build compost on site from farm waste. We never till if we can help it, because tilling destroys the fungal networks that connect plants underground.
- ✓Chop and drop — biomass stays on the land, feeding the soil where it falls
- ✓No-till — protecting fungal networks and soil structure
- ✓On-site composting — closing the nutrient loop without external inputs
Water Harvesting
In a tropical climate, the challenge is rarely a lack of rain — it is keeping that rain on the land long enough for it to do good. Bare or compacted soil sheds water quickly, carrying topsoil into streams and leaving the land dry between rains. We design our farm to slow, spread, and sink every drop that falls on it.
Contour planting follows the natural curves of the land, creating gentle terraces that interrupt runoff. Deep-rooted perennials act as sponges, pulling water underground. Ground cover and mulch protect the soil surface from compaction and evaporation.
- ✓Contour planting — following the land's natural topography to slow runoff
- ✓Permanent ground cover — protecting soil from compaction and evaporation
- ✓Deep-rooted perennials — increasing the land's capacity to absorb and store water
Polyculture & Biodiversity
A monoculture is a vulnerability dressed up as efficiency. When a single species covers an area, it creates the ideal conditions for the pests and diseases that target that species. Diversity is the farm's immune system.
We grow a wide mix of species at all times: food plants alongside nitrogen fixers, dynamic accumulators, pollinator plants, and habitat species. Each plant plays a role, and together they create a system more stable and productive than any single species could be on its own.
- ✓Companion planting — species selected for the relationships they form with each other
- ✓Nitrogen fixers — leguminous trees and plants that build soil fertility naturally
- ✓Habitat creation — space for birds, insects, and other species that support farm health
Seed Saving
Every time we save seed from a plant that performed well in our specific soil, climate, and conditions, we are selecting for resilience. Over seasons and years, that selection adds up to a gene pool that is uniquely adapted to Playon Sur — something no seed catalogue can offer.
We prioritise open-pollinated and heirloom varieties. We share seeds freely with neighbours and visitors. Genetic diversity held in common is more valuable, and more resilient, than diversity locked up in a company's catalogue.
Want to learn more?
We are happy to talk about syntropic farming, regenerative agriculture, or anything else that brought you to this page.
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