Ernst Götsch - The ‘Crazy Guy’ That Revived a Rainforest

No forest ecosystem on the planet has suffered as much loss as the Mata Atlantica in Brazil. After decades of relentless deforestation and farming for timber, sugar cane, coffee, cattle ranching, and urban sprawl, 90% of it is gone. But there are pockets of hope. Discover how syntropic farmer Ernst Götsch has brought his land back to life.

We showed up at Ernst Götsch’s farm in Piraí do Norte unannounced. Our producer had failed to confirm the visit, so there we were, having crossed half the world, lost in the tangled wilds of the Atlantic rainforest, and standing at the door of a man who didn’t expect us. His daughter, Ilona, eyed us cautiously. She had two large dogs beside her – large, serious creatures that looked at us disapprovingly as if we’d interrupted their day, which, to be fair, we absolutely had. We’d just started to explain ourselves when Ernst himself appeared. He stepped out of the thick trees, looking very much like someone who’d rather his personal forest not be cluttered with stray documentary crews. 

Transforming barren land into a thriving forest farm

Having decided we weren’t too much of a threat, the  Götsches were incredibly generous hosts. Over the next few days, we lived and worked alongside them, constantly asking questions. I spent six hours interviewing Ernst on camera, split across three two-hour sessions. We wanted to get to the bottom of how he transformed an abandoned, barren stretch of land into a thriving farm that resembles the Atlantic forest – one of the most astonishing places I’ve ever seen. 

Talking wasn’t enough, of course. We had to follow him into the fields, where he prunes, mulches, and tends the soil every day at sunrise. We had to speak with neighbouring farmers to corroborate his story, and discover they look at Ernst with a mixture of admiration and disbelief. I had already read a lot about him. I had watched all of the interviews he had ever given. But after those few days, we understood there was far more to learn from him than sustainable agricultural methods.

The FoodUnfolded team meet Ernst Götsch on his farm in Brazil, 2024.

The philosophy of cooperation

When we sat down at his dinner table, Ernst picked up a piece of paper and drew lines that resembled a chart on x-y axes. One line pointed upwards, representing cooperation, which leads to prosperity and increased life. The other line pointed downwards, representing competition, which leads to conflict, war, and death. This guiding philosophy, as clean and simple as his writing, has shaped his life and work. 

“My first question every day, every moment, is always: what can I do, how can I interact so that the result of my interaction, my participation, will be beneficial to all submitted, affected, and present? Because we’re part of a macro-organism, and in a macro-organism, we’re something like cells.” 

If Ernst were a cell, he would undoubtedly be a platelet—those tiny fragments that rush to stop bleeding and facilitate healing. He transformed his once barren 480 hectares of land into a thriving farm-forest – a layered farm resembling a wild forest. 

The FoodUnfolded team exploring Ernst's farm.

Transforming degraded lands in the Mata Atlantica

Ernst arrived in Piraí do Norte in the 1980s, a Swiss man in his thirties with a background in genetic improvement and a family to feed. He believed something was missing in conventional farming methods and set out to prove it. Growing up by the shores of Lake Constance, he watched his father work the family farm, captivated by his approach. “I became interested in farming as a child,” he recalls. “My father was always testing how things functioned–how plants interact and how to achieve better results without destroying something.” Nurtured by his father’s input, Ernst developed an insight that might seem obvious today but was revolutionary at the time: the health of a plant doesn’t depend on the treatment it receives individually; it depends on its relationship with all the other plants and animals around it.

“My father was always testing how things functioned–how plants interact and how to achieve better results without destroying something.”

In the early days of his career in a Swiss lab in the 1970s, Ernst had found himself in a fortunate position: his lab manager, responsible for field tests, was hardly ever present. His absence gave him the freedom to carry out his own experiments. So, while the world around him was rapidly adopting pesticides and fertilisers, Ernst was busy discovering how intelligent design and management could make us less dependent on them. His experiments proved successful in both Switzerland and Costa Rica. Soon enough, a Brazilian landowner and cocoa producer arrived with an intriguing proposition–or rather, a challenge: “You’ll look for land. It must be in the cocoa region, at least 200 hectares, and considered unsuitable for planting cocoa.” 

Mission accepted: bringing back the rain 

With this clear mission, Ernst set out to find the worst land and turn it into the best. After just five years, the barren landscape was already transformed into a thriving small cultivated forest. A decade later, his work drew the attention of technicians from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment. They visited his farm after seeing unexpected aerial photographs. During a severe regional drought, a small group of clouds seemed to hover over Ernst’s property, nurturing a surprisingly productive area. 

Those clouds weren’t merely a coincidence. When vegetation is dense, it creates its own microclimate. Plants release water into the air through transpiration, forming what are known as “flying rivers.” This natural water cycle generates rain, even during dry periods. Ernst’s work shows that by restoring degraded land to a lush state, we can revive these cycles – using plants to bring water back to parched landscapes. This way, Ernst was quickly successful in growing cocoa in a region that had been deemed unsuitable for it. He was also soon able to purchase the businessman’s share of land and settled for the long term. “Later, I would be blamed by local people that I bought the best land of Bahia for the price of a breakfast.”

Ernst Götsch's farm, known as 'Water Eyes' in Brazil. 

Turning the worst land into the best

Here’s how he turned the worst land into the best. First, he covered the bare, degraded soils with organic matter, compost, and mulch. Then he introduced pioneer species – fast-growing, hardy plants that help to quickly cover the soil. Next, he planted a mix of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and perennials, arranging them in layers that mimic a forest canopy. This setup creates different heights and shades, much like a natural forest. I’m making it sound easy, but he has a very sophisticated way of deciding what trees to plant and where. For the local farmers, though, he was a suspicious outsider.

“The main commentary was, ‘he’s a crazy guy’,” he recounted. Imagine how the neighbours, who were still just starting to marvel at the effectiveness of fertilisers and pesticides, could have reacted when he said that he’d work without them. Instead, he orchestrated an ecosystem where pollinators, insects, and animals play an integral role in the farm’s ongoing renewal. Ernst claims that even the subtle touch of a bee can be an intentional message, and that a family of monkeys has taught him how to plant jackfruit properly. “If you cooperate with nature, all plants, animals, and bacteria will cooperate,” he says. In his farm ecosystem, even weeds and pests are embraced as valued contributors, each serving a purpose and working to regenerate the land. “You have no enemies. They do it for me for free, moved by inner pleasure. That’s to say they need no salary!” Even if the vision behind his work doesn’t resonate with everyone, there’s no denying that his outcomes are powerful. 

Global recognition for unconventional practices

Against all odds, Ernst’s cocoa is recognised among the finest in the world. His land teems with bananas, Brazil nuts, açaí, jackfruit, mangoes, and countless other species – all flourishing and producing abundance without a single drop of additional irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides. To those who argue that it might just be that he’s at the right latitude, in a tropical rainforest, and therefore advantaged, he responds that he’s pretty sure his method could be adapted to work in the Sahara desert too, and he’s indeed been giving input on projects of this kind. And remember, it  is through his methods that water has returned to this land, not the water that made the project possible.  In fact, it was Ernst’s success as a “rainmaker” during regional droughts that finally earned him the respect of many of his neighbours.

Within five years, Ernst was able to transform his land into a thriving forest - all without a single drop of additional irrigation, fertiliser or pesticides. 

Today, after achieving worldwide recognition as one of the most successful  farming pioneers of his generation, nothing has changed for him. He still wakes up every morning before sunrise, tending to the fields until around 10am.  After that, he dedicates himself to reading. He goes to work every morning moved by inner pleasure–if he doesn’t feel in a good mood, he doesn’t even go to the fields. The plants can sense that, he claims. It’s not a surprise that his method found its name in the ancient Greek term Syntropy, which describes a system’s tendency towards order, cooperation, and complexity. “All species living on this planet, they all appear for the same reason: to increase life. Not to steal, not to exploit,” he says.

“All species living on this planet, they all appear for the same reason: to increase life. Not to steal, not to exploit.”

Teaching the next generation

Today, Ernst welcomes young farmers in training at Olhos d’Agua. He tells them they’re not there to pick up a set of farming recipes, but to understand mechanisms. They learn how nature interacts, so they can adapt syntropic farming’s principles to the local conditions of their farms. But his farming method is not the only thing we can learn from him. When we said our goodbyes, Ernst told us that documenting his farming practices was just the beginning. For him, agriculture isn’t the only thing in need of healing; our society as a whole aches for restoration. Of course, we can’t shoulder the whole world’s problems alone, just as Ernst didn’t try to fix every inch of farmland out there. But we are many. If each of us focused on what we can do to help,  ‘moved by inner pleasure,’ we’d go a long way. Besides–and this is my favourite quote of his–“if you’re serving life, then you’re happy.”