Agrarian Suburban Developments

The Wall Street Journal profiles four subdivision developments built around agriculture (Sara Schaefer Munoz, "For Sale: Condo W/Chicken Coop", Wall Street Journal, Thursday, May 17, 2007, D1). Babcock Ranch near Fort Myers , Florida, is the largest with 17,000 acre development surrounded by 73,000 acres of agriculture, including a nature preserve (USDA conservation lands?) and a cattle farm. The other three subdivisions are Bundoran Farm near Charlottesville, Virginia, South Village, in South Burlington, Vermont, and Tryon Farm, in Michigan City, Indiana, about fifty miles outside of Chicago on a commuter rail line.

Farmers appear to like the developments, because they promise markets for their fresh produce (The Journal runs a lead photograph of suburbanites harvesting vegetables in a field [community support agriculture arrangement?]). Residents like the developments, because they promise rural landscape with urban amenities. And--this is America 2007 after all--they like the notion that they are helping to conserve agricultural lands.

We'll have to see how attractive this arrangement is over the long term. The article states that, already, some residents are unhappy about some agricultural practices, such as burning fields to remove non-native grasses, the aromas from chicken coops and farm animals, and animals (and wildlife) wandering into residential neighborhoods. One developer is quoted as saying that "creating a community where agriculture is functional and where people can live is a delicate balance". Delicate balance, indeed. Living in Southern California, where, since 1945, agriculture (and, mind you, perhaps the highest value agriculture in the world) has retreated before suburban development, we have seen the delicate balance impossible to maintain. Eventually, meaning within a few years, homeowners begin to file law suits and, despite legal protections for agriculture, drive the farmers out. But perhaps not every area of the nation has SoCal's voracious appetite for subdivision and intolerance for competing land uses. Agrarian community development deserves to be watched.

Comments

[Roxanne Christensen]

There is a new sub-acre farming method called SPIN-Farming that is well-suited to agrarian-style developments. SPIN makes farming compatible, rather than competitive, with the built environment. It requires minimal infrastructure and provides a specific process for generating significant income from land bases under an acre in size. It therefore removes the two big barriers to entry for first generation farmers – they do not need much land or financial resources to start a SPIN farm operation. By re-casting farming as a small business in a development, city or town, it makes it possible for many more people to practice farming professionally. More information and photos illustrating how SPIN works can be found at www.spinfarming.com
--Roxanne
Roxanne Christensen
Co-author
SPIN-Farming
www.spinfarming.com