Crops on a bed of trunks

The technique consists of burying the trunks under the crops’ soil and planting above them. The trunk bed reproduces the natural decomposition of trees in the forest. The decomposition of the wood favors the porosity of the soil, this allows to store water as if it were a sponge and to act as a refuge for microorganisms that are beneficial to the crop. It was formally developed by the Austrian Josef Holzer, a reference in regenerative agriculture, although it had already been used in Germany and Eastern Europe.

In Polyfarming, trunks are used from cut down trees which are not suitable for other uses. Depending on the type of crop the way to bury the trunks is different, if we plant fruit trees the trunks are placed deeper than in the case of crops in the garden. The atmospheric carbon that we introduce into the soil can be stored under the soil for 5 to 10 years depending on the type of wood.