Pedra Preta

Tropicália was designed on Fazenda Pedra Preta with the initial intention of being able to continue coffee growing as a profitable business. Nonetheless, Tropicália AFS has rapidly become a much larger philosophy with the purpose of stimulating a world-wide alternative for the traditional monoculture paradox, creatinga more complex structure capable of mitigating the agronomical, environmental and economic pressures that face coffee producers currently. The innovative system offers conditions conducive to the implementation of a management model, that
contrary to monoculture agriculture, reduces the need for external inputs and improves producing circumstances over time. A system heavily inspired by nature was the only way for such a model to not only survive but also thrive in the current global coffee industry. Tropicália AFS is a coffee centred agroforestry system that introduces five distinctive components: soil coverage species, fast-growing shadow, coffee, and two perennial species. Specific and deliberate distribution in time and space of
these species create a positive interaction intended to maintain the advantages of mechanization while optimizing solar radiation, water retention, soil regeneration, and conservation. Additionally, what makes Tropicália so unique is the use of species from different tropical regions across the globe, promoting diversity and vigour within the system, and giving birth to the name Tropicália AFS.