Exemplary Agroforestry Project in Brazil
Eco Caminhos has become an exemplary model in biodiverse agroforestry systems. We offer agroecological products grown in abundance and free of pesticides. In addition, we plant agroforestry on previously degraded land. Today we have approximately 2 hectares of biodiverse agroforestry that range from vegetable gardens to forests! Located within the mountains of Nova Friburgo, in the middle of the Atlantic subtropical forests, the farm still has over 20 hectares available for the implementation of agroforestry systems. Eco Caminhos Agroforestry is family-based and has been promoting activities related to sustainability and permaculture since 2015.
Our Vision
Deliver a wide variety of healthy products that can improve the quality of life of all involved agents (human beings and nature), providing a new experience from the field to the table!
Our Mission
Produce food of the highest quality, while respecting nature and its cycles. The creation of abundant and biodiverse forests is the desired result of this agriculture. Provide a healthier lifestyle for people. Sharing knowledge and influencing people to follow our example.
What benefits does agroforestry offer us and our planet?
- Agroforestry covers several objectives and enables us to live harmoniously on our planet. At the same time that we recover nature, we produce healthy food. It is possible to simultaneously work on soil regeneration and food production. This is accomplished through the planting of different crops, optimizing spaces, respecting the strata of each plant and the plants temporal relationship. At Eco Caminhos we follow the Principles of Sintropic Agriculture according to Ernst Götsch.
- Life promotes the transformation of an environment with few resources into abundant forests with well-structured soils that sustain a huge community of living organisms.
- We cultivate agroforests with great commitment and care, using low supply of external inputs (such as organic fertilizers, water, plastics, etc.). We work on an important and urgent legacy: the establishment of forests. These agroforests recover the soil, strengthening trade and its local producers. All this brings a huge benefit to the community, the ecosystem, the producer and the consumer.
- In our project we offer apprenticeship opportunities for underprivileged teenaged apprentices. Teenagers participate in every aspect of farming: soil preparation, cultivation, maintenance, pruning, harvest, sales, packing and delivery. The goal is that these teens learn how to generate their own income and share the knowledge of agroforestry and its commercialization.
- In addition to our agroforestry system, we have free range chickens and apply composting for all the kitchen and garden leftovers. The compost transforms the kitchen waste into humus for our SAF (Agroforestry System). We have a small greenhouse for the production of seedlings of vegetables, native plants, fruit trees and trees for wood.
Agroforestry volunteering in Eco Caminhos
Through our volunteer programs, it is possible to engage in virtually all processes that are part of agroforestry production, from:
- Planning: species choices; assembly of consortia; organization of available resources; identification of opportunities and challenges.
- Production: opening of new areas, with fertilization and inputs; preparation of flower beds; planting and irrigation systems.
- Harvesting and maintenance of areas already implemented.
- Sales and delivery of products.
Ecotourism at Eco Caminhos
At Eco Caminhos we offer people an immersion in agroforestry through our ecotourism programs. These include lectures and workshops, while living in one of the natural build houses in Eco Caminhos.
You can support our project by buying or donating our vegetable and fruit baskets.
Through the purchase of our agroecological baskets we can invest in planting more forests, helping more disadvantaged young people, and also include and transform rural producers into forest farmers. If you don’t live nearby but want to help in some way you can donate a basket that we deliver to disadvantaged people in the community
