Food Forest Dynamics: A Syntropic Approach

How do we grow a food forest from scratch? And how can we design it so that each plant gets what it needs to thrive?

Join us for a one-hour introduction to a new way of looking at food forests - syntropic agroforestry. Inspired by indigenous practices and tested for more than 25 years in Brazil, syntropic agroforestry is now spreading around the world, celebrated for both its carbon sequestration and ability to produce food without fossil fuels. 

In this workshop, Dan Kelly will draw on four years of experience in Mangere, sharing how you can grow trees, shrubs, vegetables and grasses together. You’ll learn the basic principles behind syntropy and get practical guidance on how to plant your food forest in ways that balance diversity with ease of management. 

Utilising a game-based format, you’ll select your own combination of plants, trying to design a food-producing forest organised according to syntropy’s rules. What different fossil fuel-free products might your forest create?

Come and find out more about how you can grow food in a way that isn’t just inspired by nature, but actively makes it better.

ABOUT

Dan Kelly is a Pākehā of now-distant Irish extraction. He grew up in Wellington but has been based in Auckland since 2008, supporting a number of different urban agriculture projects.

Dan is a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland. His research explores the transformative possibilities associated with more urban-grown food. 

He is a pāpā, proud tangata tiriti and the kaiawhina for the food forest at Papatūānuku Kōkiri marae.