Buying The Condo, and the Farm

Imagine coming home after a long day at work and gazing out at your grazing cattle – because you live in a subdivision built around a farm. Instead of walking to the convenience store, what if you could walk to an organic produce stand? Developers are betting people would like to combine the convenient amenities of suburban design with the benefits of sustainable rural living. As someone who has dreamed of going "back to the land" but doesn’t want to give up walking downtown or having high-speed Internet access, I can see the appeal.

So can many others. In a recent New York Times article, Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute told reporter Alec Applebaum, "There are currently at least 200 projects that include agriculture as a key community component." Besides a supply of fresh, local food, residents in communities such as Serenbe enjoy educational and cultural activities celebrating their proximity to the land, such as environmental programs or art shows inspired by bucolic settings.

Farm subdivisions appeal to those who want to own a new home but don’t want to pave over paradise. Qroe Farm cites “preservation development” as their model. Some communities, like Bundoran are set up so that housing associations earn rent from tenant farmers, and others, including South Village, plan to pay farmers a salary. Farmers benefit from a built-in market for their produce.

All of these sites claimed these farm/housing hybrids are examples of responsible land stewardship, offering environmentally sound housing and preserved farmland. But how are farmers making out in this arrangement? And how sustainable is acreage lost to houses and infrastructure? Share your thoughts below!

(Photo by net_efekt via Flickr/Creative Commons)