Modern agriculture has given us abundant calories, but at a high cost: degraded soils, collapsing insect populations and landscapes that are more vulnerable to drought and extreme weather. Pollinating insects, in particular, are in steep decline, and without them, many crops simply do not set fruit.

We live in the Anthropocene, an era where human activity is the dominant force shaping landscapes and climate. Agriculture alone accounts for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use and biodiversity loss.

This is why regenerative agriculture has become central to discussions on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Practices like agroforestry and syntropic farming can:

• Enhance soil health and fertility
• Increase carbon sequestration in soils and biomass
• Improve water retention and reduce erosion
• Support biodiversity and pollinators
• Strengthen food security and rural livelihoods

Rather than chasing higher yields through more inputs, syntropic farming aims to design ecosystems that are productive because they are healthy.

At Borgo Naera, we are convinced that the way we grow food must change. Instead of extracting from ecosystems, agriculture can regenerate them: building soil, supporting biodiversity and stabilising local climates, while still producing nutritious food and premium extra virgin olive oil.

One of the most promising approaches in this direction is syntropic agroforestry.

From agroforestry to syntropic farming

Agroforestry is the practice of growing trees together with crops or livestock. When designed well, these systems improve soil structure, increase carbon storage, support biodiversity and enhance resilience to droughts and floods.

Syntropic farming is a specific, highly refined form of agroforestry pioneered by Swiss farmer and researcher Ernst Götsch. Working mainly in Brazil, Götsch developed ways of arranging and managing trees, shrubs and crops so that they behave like a young forest: constantly accumulating biomass, water and life instead of exhausting them.

On Agenda Gotsch, syntropic agriculture is described as a system that accumulates matter and energy and becomes more complex over time, a process-based agriculture rather than input-based.

Why this matters for Borgo Naera

Our olive grove sits in a landscape that already shows the scars of climate change:

• Longer, hotter dry seasons
• Increasing pressure of desertification
• Water scarcity and competition for groundwater
• Progressive abandonment of rural areas, as farming becomes less viable

This is not just a local story; it is part of a wider Mediterranean and national challenge. If we want olive trees to still be here for future generations, we cannot simply maintain the status quo — we have to rebuild resilience from the soil up.

This is also, for one of us, professional territory. Zélie works as a climate risk scientist, modelling how hazards like drought and extreme heat play out across landscapes. The grove is where that work stops being abstract: a place to find out what resilience actually requires, on one particular hillside, over years rather than model runs.

Why we chose syntropic agroforestry

To guide this transition, we started a process to regenerate our land by incorporating concepts of syntropic agroforestry, and invited the support of Marc Leiber, founder of GrowBack and steward of Quinta das Abelhas in Portugal.

Quinta das Abelhas ("Farm for the Bees") is a research and learning project in the Alentejo region dedicated to developing complex syntropic agroforestry systems in a Mediterranean climate. Founded in 2019 by Marc, a long-time student of Ernst Götsch, it focuses on restoring degraded soils, supporting pollinators and re-establishing water cycles through carefully designed tree-crop systems.

This experience, regenerating dry, erosion-prone land using syntropic principles, is directly relevant to our context in Sicily. Working with Marc allows us to:

• Avoid common mistakes and accelerate learning
• Adapt syntropic techniques specifically to olive-based systems
• Design our grove not just as a plantation, but as a climate-resilient agroforest

What syntropic regeneration will look like in our olive grove

Instead of viewing our olive trees as a single, isolated crop, we want to see the grove as a living consortium with several layers:

• Upper trees that provide partial shade and wind protection, moderating extremes
• Mid-layer trees and shrubs, including nitrogen-fixers and flowering species for pollinators
• Understory plants and groundcovers, we have just planted more than 15 species of cover crops under our olive trees, that keep soil covered, reduce evaporation and feed soil life
• Strategic use of fast-growing species that produce large amounts of biomass to feed the system

Over time, we aim to turn the grove into a self-reinforcing system: each cycle increasing soil organic matter, improving structure, and slightly enhancing moisture and fertility, which in turn supports healthier trees and richer undergrowth.

What we expect from this shift:

• Less pollution of groundwater and surrounding ecosystems
• Lower production costs and reduced exposure to price spikes in fertilisers and pesticides
• Greater autonomy, relying more on our own knowledge and our landscape, and less on external inputs

It is agriculture that runs on intelligence, not on inputs. We see this transition as a proof of concept that can, in time, inspire other olive oil producers across the Mediterranean's largest island: Sicily.

A high level of biodiversity makes the whole system more stable: it buffers against climatic shocks, supports pollination, and creates ecological checks and balances that a monoculture simply cannot sustain.

Where this leads

By regenerating our grove through syntropic agroforestry, we are working to:

• Produce olives from healthier, more resilient trees
• Increase soil organic matter and water stability, which support consistent yields even in difficult years
• Test whether a more complex, healthier system also produces more characterful olives — a question we are genuinely curious about, and one we will report on honestly
• Align our farming with a system that stores carbon, protects biodiversity and cares for pollinators

This is a Mediterranean landscape on the front line of climate change, and what we learn here we will share, the parts that work and the parts that don't.

For us, that is the real luxury: a bottle that connects daily pleasure at the table with the long, patient work of healing soil, water and life around our trees.