Contributions to the Neganthropology

Agroforestry and Syntropic Agriculture

Abstract

The present text aims to discuss the proximity between two central concepts in the works of two authors: “syntropic agriculture” and the “Neganthropocene,” respectively in the works of Ernst Götsch and Bernard Stiegler. First, a review of the terminology of the terms “syntropy” and “negentropy” is carried out, establishing that the terms are quasi-synonymous. Secondly, a succinct explanation of syntropic agriculture as an “epistemological key” is offered, one very similar to that of Isabelle Stengers and Ilya Prigogine from Order out of Chaos. Second, an explanation of its origin in indigenous cosmology, as expressed by Viveiros de Castro in Cannibal Metaphysics, is outlined. Syntropic agriculture is one of the ramifications of techniques carried out in agroforestry systems and, therefore, is also called “successional agroforestry systems” (SAFs). It has been used not only for reforestation, but also for small and large-scale agricultural production. The big differences between syntropic agriculture and other agroforestry systems are how the biodiversity of cultivated species is emphasized and how ecological succession is used as a guide to cultivation. That is, syntropic agriculture mimics the processes carried out by ecological succession. The role of human beings is also great, given that the farmer needs to act constantly, intervening in cultivation, sowing, and pruning. Thus, syntropic agriculture establishes the height of syntropy when there is an organization similar to that of a forest, but above all similar to a forest in which man is properly equated. At this point, a parallel is drawn between this model of agriculture and that carried out by Amazonian indigenous peoples, which most likely gave rise to the Amazon Forest.