Ana Maria Primavesi

Ana Primavesi was a pioneer in soil preservation and the recovery of degraded areas in the tropics. She approached soil management in a way designed to work naturally with the farm's environment, which was particularly important in Brazil. According to her research, the most appropriate type of agriculture there would encourage farmers to favor treating the soil so it has high levels of organic matter, avoids movement, controls pests using biological techniques, and avoids chemical inputs by substituting organic additives such as green manure. She called her methods agroecology.[6]

In a 2016 interview,[1] she explained one aspect of tropical soils:

"In the tropics, 80% of microorganisms found in the soil are fungi that produce enormous amounts of antibiotics and have their life inhibited below 15 centimeters. In the past, when farmers worked with an ox or donkey plow, the plow did not go below 12 or 15 cm and the land remained more or less in the superficial part. Now with the mechanical traction plow, you can reach 30 or 40 cm, put the dead part on top that is broken up by the rain, enters the ground and clogs the pores. There the land is hard, compacted. Everyone asks me what to do with compaction. In the tropics, you cannot work the land deeply at all. The work has to be superficial because the ground below is dead."[1]

Ana and her husband were professors at the Federal University of Santa María, in the southernmost state of Brazil. There, she helped organize the first postgraduate course in organic agriculture. She was also the founder of the Organic Agriculture Association (AAO), one of the first associations of organic producers in Brazil.

Her book "Ecological management alone: agriculture in tropical regions" is still considered a reference work in agricultural sciences.[2][7]

After she retired from teaching, she and her husband moved to their own property in Itaí, located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. After her husband's death in 1977, she stayed there to put into practice her research about organic agriculture. She lived on the farm for more than 30 years and authored multiple publications about her research and agriculture work. Under Primavesi's management, her land, which was badly eroded when bought, was rejuvenated with springs, forests and agricultural areas. Her success there led to many speaking invitations and research projects around the world.[5][6][7]

Dr. Primavesi died in São Paulo on 5 January 2020 at the age of 99 from heart problems. She is buried in the city's Congonhas Cemetery.[3][6]