It used to be that farms were cleared to make way for housing developments. Now, developments are making room for farms.
Agricultural neighborhoods 鈥� or agrihoods 鈥� are neighborhoods with urban farms. They are being sown across California, and buyers are eating them up.
Davis is home to one of the newest agrihoods, The Cannery. While The Cannery offers 10 miles of bike paths and plenty of open space for kids to play, it鈥檚 the 7.5-acre farm that鈥檚 received the most attention.
鈥淭hat barn when you first enter, it just gives you a warm wonderful feeling. I just love the whole concept of what they have with the farm,鈥� says Livia Hamrah, who was looking through one of the homes with her sister.
Developers who have been offering golf courses and swimming pools for years say that their customers are looking for something new. In California, consumers want green, organic, sustainable and local products. So it鈥檚 no surprise that they are loving the urban farm.
鈥淚n 30 years of building homes, I鈥檝e never had the opportunity to build a barn before,鈥� says Kevin Carson, president of the Northern California division of New Home Co., which developed The Cannery.
Homes there range from $400,000 to over $1 million. While many of the residents might like the idea of farming, it would be unreasonable to expect them to quit their day jobs. It seems they will more likely post farm pictures on Facebook than actually farm.
That鈥檚 where Mary Kimball comes in. She is executive director of the Center for Land-Based Learning. The center is partnering with The Cannery to help run the farm.
Kimball鈥檚 organization will provide two or three California Farm Academy graduates to work the land and turn it into a money-making business.
鈥淲e want it to be a farm that is able to sustain itself over time,鈥� says Kimball.
The New Home Co. will help underwrite the first three years of farm operations and help pay for resident workshops and volunteer days.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a community farm,鈥� Kimball says. People can鈥檛 鈥渨alk the rows and pick and harvest what they want anytime day or night.鈥�
In addition to homebuyers, farms are also attractive to city officials. Kimball believes the farm helped gain approval for the development as a whole.
鈥淭he farm was really the shining star, and it consistently came up at the top of everyone鈥檚 list as to why this particular project should move forward,鈥� says Kimball.
Turning industrial land into farmland has had its own set of problems. Decades of wasting away under concrete resulted in poor soil quality. Developers and farmers had to dig up the first 3 feet of soil and replace it with nutrient-rich soil from neighboring farms.
Davis isn鈥檛 the only city where developers are opening agrihoods. In South Orange County, there鈥檚 Rancho Mission Viejo. It鈥檚 a 23,000-acre working ranch with cattle and produce that includes 63,000 lemon trees.
鈥淚t鈥檚 that millennial generation who鈥檚 enjoying that culinary experience,鈥� says Amaya Genaro of Rancho Mission Viejo. She says there are currently about 1,500 residents.
Rancho Mission Viejo has been experimenting with community farming among its older residents, but Genaro says it expects to woo millennials with the recent opening of its second agrihood.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e kinda dubbed the foodie generation and they want to really eat healthy,鈥� Genaro says. 鈥淭hey want to teach their children to eat healthy. And also really to teach their children, you know, even where food comes from.鈥�
Currently, Rancho Mission Viejo provides its residents with moon hikes, falconry, astronomy and ecology classes.
Rancho Mission Viejo aims to eventually build 14,000 homes in its agrihoods. Elsewhere in California, agrihoods have been proposed in Santa Clara and Sacramento.
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