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Some suburban neighborhoods, called agrihoods, let people buy modern homes built around a real working farm. Residents get access to fresh produce and shared spaces like community gardens, orchards, and farm paths, so farm-to-table living becomes part of everyday neighborhood life.
Neighborhoods centered around farms can address fundamental food system challenges. But they need to be more inclusive.
Excerpt from this story from Earth Island Journal:
The Santa Clara development will be the latest in a growing number of agrihoods that function not just as a site of food production but also a source of community building. Ed McMahon, a senior fellow of sustainable development at the Urban Land Institute, a network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts across the world, estimates that there are more than 200 agrihoods across the United States, spanning at least 30 states, from rural communities to major cities. And it’s easy to see why. As McMahon put it, “walkable, charming neighborhoods — that’s a scarce resource.” Beyond that, agrihoods also harken back to an earlier way of living.
“Everyone in America was at one time either a farmer themselves or their neighbors were the farmers. Then we separated farm production from farm consumption, and nobody knew where their food came from,” said McMahon. “This is a way to restore that balance, at least to a small extent.”
As a model, an agrihood has the potential to address fundamental food system challenges, such as food miles and possible supply chain disruptions. “In principle, it makes sense to more strategically integrate agricultural production into wherever we live,” said Joshua Sbicca, associate professor of sociology at Colorado State University and author of A Recipe for Gentrification. “It makes sense to have greater connection to the land and makes sense to have more immediate access to food, which is a fundamental need.”
So far, the answer to Sbicca’s question is the well-heeled. The term “agrihood” was popularized by 2014 New York Times article about a popular development in Arizona called Agritopia. The article noted at the time that homes in the community sold for “no more than similar houses in the area.” But since then, they have risen to a median price of over a million dollars, while homes in the surrounding community go for about half that price. Other agrihoods are similarly pricey, often treating the farm as an “amenity” that adds to its marketability and cost.
“We can maximize stability in local communities by having them manage their own food,” said Middlebrook. “I see it as a way to not only deal with the climate crisis, but with a lot of other crises that are happening in America today.”
Coming Soon!
Our Creative Team is working on the next issue!
It will be full of the latest Agritainment News, Agritractions, hottest new trends and more!
During the last month our Creative Team uncovered amazing facets to Agritourism, learned how saavy tourism professionals are taking advantage of this HOT new Travel Trend and what it could bring to destinations looking to introduce something NEW!
What…
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Urban Land Institute Releases Two New Reports on Healthy Housing and Agrihoods
Urban Land Institute Releases Two New Reports on Healthy Housing and Agrihoods
WASHINGTON/ DECEMBER 04, 2018 (STL.News)
The Urban Land Institute has released two new reports related to building for health and wellness – one addresses how to incorporate lessons from healthy features into affordable housing for the broader housing marketplace, and the other explores the development of agrihoods, a growing trend in urban areas. Taken together, the reports illustrate…
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Reports illustrate best practices in creating healthy housing and agrihood projects
Reports illustrate best practices in creating healthy housing and agrihood projects
WASHINGTON (December 3, 2018) – The Urban Land Institute has released two new reports related to building for health and wellness – one addresses lessons from healthy affordable housing for the broader housing marketplace, and the other explores the development of agrihoods. Taken together, the reports illustrate opportunities for developers to create financially successful projects which improve…
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ReGen village, in the Netherlands, will collect and store its own water and energy, grow its own food, and process much of its own waste. Also: no cars.
*starts packing my bags to move to the Netherlands*
ReGen village, in the Netherlands, will collect and store its own water and energy, grow its own food, and process much of its own waste. Also: no cars.
The 50-acre neighborhood, which will be nearly self-sufficient as it collects and stores water and energy, grows food, and processes much of its own waste, was initially planned for construction in 2017.
But after the project finally got government approval this month, it’s ready to take its next steps.
“We can connect a neighborhood the way it’s supposed to be connected, which is around natural resources,” says James Ehrlich, founder of ReGen Villages. If the project raises the final funding needed to begin construction, what is now a simple field will have new canals, wetlands, and ponds that can soak up stormwater (the area is seven meters below sea level, and at risk for flooding) and attract migrating birds. The land will be planted with trees, gardens, and food forests. Vertical gardens inside greenhouses will grow food on a small footprint. The 203 new homes, from tiny houses and row houses to larger villas, will provide needed housing in an area where the population may double in 15 years. The houses range in cost from 200,000 to 850,000 euros.
Water will come primarily from rain collection. The on-site farming, including raising chicken and fish, will supply a large portion of the local food supply. If neighbors volunteer for the community–to garden, or teach a yoga class, or provide elder care, for example–the community will use a blockchain-based time bank to track their hours, and then provide a discount on their HOA fees.
A “living machine,” a system that uses plants and trees to filter sewage, and a separate anaerobic digester, can handle the neighborhood’s sewage and provide irrigation or water reused in energy systems. A system for processing food and animal waste will use black soldier flies and aquatic worms to digest the waste and create both chicken and fish feed. Other household waste–like cans and bottles–will be handled by the municipal recycling system, at least initially.
It’s a design that Ehrlich believes is feasible elsewhere, though it may not easily fit into existing regulations, and it would need political support. (Some other “agrihoods,” neighborhoods with built-in farming, do already exist, like Kuwili Lani in Hawaii, which also uses renewable energy and harvests some rainwater.)
REgeneration
RC
