Swiss agronomist turns monoculture into organic farming

Swiss agronomist turns monoculture into organic farming:

Born in 1948, the son of a farmer from canton Thurgau emigrated to South America in 1982. Götsch started his career as an agricultural sciences researcher at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich. After he moved to Brazil, he took over an abandoned cocoa farm in Bahia in the northeast of the country. The soil was deemed degraded beyond hope and the earth was burnt. It was basically worthless.

But Götsch managed to make the Olhos D’Agua farm flourish again.

He had entered a bet that his system would work and in return was given the 120-hectare farm.

After only five years, he succeeded in creating a level of biodiversity at Olhos D’Agua comparable to an untouched rainforest. His farm produced as much cocoa as other farms in the neighbourhood. Such work has brought Götsch widespread respect and attention in Brazil.

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Iron gardening tools versus copper gardening tools: What we were never taught – Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy

Iron gardening tools versus copper gardening tools: What we were never taught:

Pages from: Living Water: Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy by Olof Alexandersson

Iron or Copper Equipment in Farming In the 1930s Schauberger was invited by King Boris of Bulgaria to examine the reasons for the great decline in that country’s farming production. During his trip through the countryside he noticed that in the areas populated by the Turks, the harvests were more plentiful than elsewhere. It was here that the old wooden plough was still used.

The rest of the country had replaced these with modern iron ploughs imported from Germany as part of a general modernizing of Bulgarian agriculture. The first steam ploughs had also been introduced. Schauberger drew the logical conclusion that the reduced cropping was a consequence of the introduction of iron ploughs, but it was not until later that he developed his theory of the detrimental effect of iron machinery on agriculture. His work with water jets gave him a new perspective on the problem.

It was shown that if a small amount of rust was added to the water in these experiments, no charge developed; the water became ’empty. He abstracted this finding to the use of iron ploughs and thought their effect on harvest yields must relate to this. When the iron plough moves through the soil, it becomes warm, and the disturbed soil is covered with a fine dust of iron particles that quickly rust. He had previously noticed that iron-rich ground was dry, and that the turbines in power stations ‘discharged’ water. The conclusion of all these observations was that iron had a detrimental effect on the water characteristics within the soil; it expelled the water and ‘drained’ it of its power.

Read moreIron gardening tools versus copper gardening tools: What we were never taught – Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy