BY: SWIKAR OLI
In a verdant living community, thousands of families share large acreages of farmland full of berries, artichokes and heirloom vegetables. People of all ages can walk around the fields to pluck what catches their eye. By the farm, a produce stand operates on the honour system. Rows of homes that line manicured lawns make up the community that shares the land. No, this is not some modern-day Thomas More fantasy: this is Arizona.
Nicki Teston working away in the community garden at Agritopia.
Photo By Laura Segall for the New York Times
As the New York Times describes the community: “Sixteen of Agritopia’s 160 acres are certified organic farmland, with row crops (artichokes to zucchini), fruit trees (citrus, nectarine, peach, apple, olive and date) and livestock (chickens and sheep).
Mr. Gruninger and Simone Baker, 22, at work in the vegetable rows.
Photo By Laura Segall for the New York Times
Fences gripped by grapevines and blackberry bushes separate the farm from the community’s 452 single-family homes, each with a wide front porch and sidewalks close enough to encourage conversation. A 117-unit assisted- and independent-living center is set to open this summer.”
Agritopia and other farm-to-table (or “agrihood”) communities like it work much like housing communities that share swimming pools, golf courses or fitness centres, only instead of pools, everyone gets their dinner from the same permissive land.
Photo by Laura Segall for the New York Times
And unlike the golf courses with their seven-figure maintenance costs, the farm model can actually turn a profit. Agritopia has its own farm-to-table restaurant and several food trucks. Serenbe, an agrihood in Georgia, has three restaurants that get outside visitors. Willowsford in Virginia has “a culinary consultant who regularly teaches classes in how to prepare whatever is in season.” The excesses can be sold to local chefs and to farmers’ markets.
Residents pay $100 a month for fresh produce, eggs and honey.
Photo by Laura Segall for The New York Times
Matthew “Quint” Redmond, creator of the concept and owner of agricultural consulting firm AgriNetx LLC, says that developers are looking to transform their golf courses to communal farmlands in order to turn costly green spaces into farms that generate revenue. Brent Herrington, an agrihood developer, says of the fascination: “We spend $100 million on a clubhouse, but residents, first day on the island, they go to the farm to get flowers, fruits and vegetables.” This lifestyle isn’t costly, either: agrihood resident Ben Wyffels said that his home “cost no more than similar houses in the area.”
A bold gesture of faith for the model, Bloomberg reports that Harvest, a Texas agrihood with 3,200 homes, is a billion dollar project. Its website says the 1,150-acre development comes with a greenhouse, a farm manager “with a great sense of humor” and a personal plot that costs only $60 a year. In the 2014 article, the New York Times reports that “at least a dozen new agrihoods are underway or have secured financing.”
Sources: nytimes.com, yimg.com, civileats.com, bwbx.io
