SYNERGIC AGRICULTURE
As established by the Statute, in 2003 we founded a Free School of Synergistic Agriculture in collaboration with the "Kanbìo" Association. The director of the school would have been Emilia Hazelip, founder of the method, but due to her sudden death Antonio De Falco and Fortunato Fabbricini , his old friends and pupils, have continued teaching. Since then the school has grown, with a good group of teachers and a vast network of synergistic "gardeners" who have approached this method thanks to the school. Many points in Italy were born where the earth takes the form of splendid vegetable gardens, rich in species and populated by insects, flowers and an incredible biodiversity in the soil. Since 2015, the School has been established as an Association for social promotion, named after Emilia Hazelip.
But what is synergistic agriculture?
SYNERGIC AGRICULTURE is a permacultural method of growing vegetable gardens developed by the Spanish farmer Emilia Hazelip. It is based on the principle, amply demonstrated by the most up-to-date microbiological studies, that while the earth makes plants grow, plants create fertile soil through their "root exudates", the organic residues they leave and their chemical activity, together with microorganisms , bacteria, fungi and earthworms.
The products obtained with this practice have a different quality, a different flavor, a different energy and a greater resistance to agents that bring diseases. Through this way of farming, more is returned to the earth, in energy terms, than what is taken, promoting the mechanisms of self-fertility of the soil and making agriculture an ecological human activity.
Agriculture, crop planning, therefore, can be practiced respecting the living organisms that are naturally found in the soil and which form the basis of fertility. For this reason, in synergistic agriculture, annual and perennial plants are cultivated together, without resorting to plowing or fertilization, using a permanent organic cover and promoting the natural self-aeration and self-fertilization mechanisms that the earth spontaneously puts in place.
From 2012 to 2014 we worked on the realization of the project of a Synergistic Agriculture Manual that Emilia Hazelip had not been able to complete, through the translation, systematization and publication of her writings. The book "Synergistic Agriculture, origins, experience, practice" was born, published by Terranuova Edizioni. Subsequently, the Basilico Association supported the birth of the “Free School of Synergistic Agriculture Emilia Hazelip” of which some of its members are founding members.