From Crisis to Abundance

In Mértola, Portugal, where scorching summers stretch endlessly and rain falls in unpredictable bursts, António Coelho grows tomatoes, melons, and leafy greens from soil that most would consider unsustainable.

His 3-hectare farm bursts with life, layers of vegetables growing beneath fruit trees, herbs tucked between rows of potatoes, everything thriving without a single drop of synthetic fertilizer. This is syntropic agriculture in action: copying how forests naturally build fertility from nothing, creating abundance where there once was only dust.

Located in Portugal's Alentejo region near the Guadiana Valley Natural Park, this land has been shaped by millennia of human activity, ancient civilizations extracting resources, centuries of overgrazing, generations watching topsoil blow away. "We were in an extremely critical situation with practically no rain for years," António explains. The region's Mediterranean climate brings brutal challenges: summer temperatures soaring above 40°C, winter rains that might not come at all, and soil so degraded that conventional farming simply stopped working.

The Syntropic Revolution

When drought made his organic conventional farming unfeasible, after years of struggle, António didn't give up. He completely reimagined what farming could be. At 45 years old, with nearly two decades of farming experience, he discovered syntropic agriculture and saw a way forward.

“This Brazilian-developed system doesn't fight the desert, it works with natural succession to rebuild ecosystems from the ground up.” António explains. By layering fast-growing plants with slow-growing trees, each species supports the others, creating shade, building soil, and cycling nutrients without any external inputs.

At Horta da Malhadinha, António and his team orchestrates a symphony of growth. Tomatoes climb between young fruit trees that will one day tower overhead. Leafy greens flourish in the shade of sunflowers. Melons spread across soil covered in organic matter from pruned branches. Every plant has multiple jobs: food production, soil building, pest management, water retention. “From just 3 hectares, we can feed our community. Even a small amount of land produces abundantly.”

Teaching the Desert to Bloom

António is co-founder of Terra Sintrópica, a non profit association that helped transform his farm into an Agroecology and Regeneration Center (CARES)  and the impact extends far beyond his productive 3 hectares. Through its website Terra Sintrópica - available in Portuguese, English, German, and French - shares detailed knowledge with farmers across the world. His Instagram account reaches thousands of followers with practical demonstrations of syntropic techniques. Every Wednesday morning, visitors arrive for farm tours that include lunch made from the garden's produce, experiencing firsthand how desert can become abundance.

The farm has become a living classroom for the next generation and Terra Sintrópica runs award-winning educational programs in local schools, teaching children that degraded land can heal, that food can grow without chemicals, that their semi-arid home isn't condemned to desertification. International volunteers come to learn his methods, working hands-on in the syntropic gardens before taking these techniques back to their own communities. Through workshops, events, and constant knowledge sharing, he's building a network of regenerative farmers adapted to extreme climates.

A Model for Semi-Arid Futures

What António has achieved at Horta da Malhadinha offers hope for semi-arid regions worldwide. His soil tests show dramatic improvements: increased organic matter, enhanced microbial activity, better water retention, deeper root systems - all in just 6-10 years of syntropic management. Biodiversity has exploded, with native species returning, pollinators thriving, and pest populations naturally controlled by beneficial insects. The land that couldn't support conventional farming now produces enough bounty to feed a community. Everything is certified organic and grown without external inputs.

"We aim to create a system that is not only productive, but resilient to climate extremes," António emphasizes. In a region where climate refugees once fled to cities, António is showing that the solution isn't escape—it's working with nature to move from scarcity back into abundance.