Forests4Farming

TODAY

1. Henrique:

   Forests4Farming (F4F) is an international organization started, among others, by Daniela and Fernando from CEPEAS — the research center for syntropic agriculture.

   —:—
2. Henrique:

   They do a bit of everything: there is the F4F Academy, with excellent courses; the CEPEAS channel, which taught me agroforestry like no other; and Syntropedia, bringing together information on hundreds of agroforestry plants.

   The home page is beautiful, but it does not match F4F’s visual identity.Each plant page has a blurry photo and an unclear information hierarchy: crucial pruning responses get lost among less frequently needed details such as leaf habit.The project view is confusing: one long vertical list gets messy as soon as you start adding plants.Separate from Syntropedia, the academy throws you straight into an advertisement with no context.Even the academy does not follow F4F’s identity: it looks like a standard course platform template, a little soulless.CEPEAS’s wonderful videos are scattered on YouTube, disconnected from everything else.

   —:—
3. Visitor:

   Wow, they are THE crew

   —:—
4. Henrique:

   Exactly!

   In September 2026 I volunteered for the end-of-dry-season pruning at CEPEAS. The work was great, but the company was even more wonderful: each of the 20-plus people there had their own spark and was full of life. I got to meet Dani and Fernando, whose mastery, teaching, patience, and care left a lasting impression.

   Most of the work was pruning.And pruning, pruning, more pruning…Partly sustained by the Cerrado cashew apple—amazing!And, well, there was time to rest and visit Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park too.

   —:—
5. Henrique:

   With a programmer’s and designer’s mindset, I quickly saw many ways F4F could improve and offered to help however I could. I asked Fernando for permission to make suggestions. My main thesis is that we need one welcoming online home for syntropic agriculture.

   —:—
6. Henrique:

   You can see my experiments here.

   The planner puts plants side by side so you can see the system instead of getting lost in a list.Grouping by function reveals what each plant brings to the system and which functions are missing.The strata view shows how plants occupy light and space, helping you compose the planting.Succession becomes visible, so you can plan a system that changes over time.Plants share the visual language of courses and projects, creating one recognizable home for everything.Courses and plants become part of the same home, with consistent navigation and visual identity.The course page organizes the learning path while keeping F4F’s identity.Lessons are easy to find on a phone, so you can learn close to your planting too.One search brings plants, lessons and courses together, without guessing which platform to search.

   —:—
7. Henrique:

   ⚠️ Important: I do not work at F4F, and none of this has been approved. These are still early conversations with the team. My dream is to iterate on this vision and bring it to the final platform, but that is not the reality yet.

   —:—
8. Henrique:

   One nice thing is that this helps me imagine a support network among digital homes for agroecology and agroforestry: Gororobas could surface information from Syntropedia and point people there when they want to learn more. I have been thinking about “organizing agroforestry encyclopedias” at Gororobas since 2024, so I could apply a lot of what I learned to this F4F prototype.

   —:—
9. Henrique:
   Management information has a clear hierarchy, with references and nearby lessons for deeper learning.Size and habitat are grouped so you can compare the species’ needs with your planting conditions.The same profile works on a phone, keeping essential information easy to consult in the field.

   Olha que delícia essa página do Eucalipto! Tudo facinho de consultar e um monte de referências pra aprofundar.

   —:—
10. Henrique:

    Well, none of this has been reviewed by more people, and it is not finished work. Ideally, I would listen a lot more to everyone who could benefit and take it through many iterations before reaching a “final” result. But, as in agroforestry, nothing is final: systems keep evolving, and we have to keep listening to what life tells us :)

    —:—
11. Henrique:

    If you live agroforestry — planting, teaching or learning — or think I could help with your project, send me a message right below 👇 I’d love to hear what you think!

    —:—