Landscape Architecture Magazine – “A Feast of Ideas”

We were recently in LAM in an article titled ‘A Feast of Ideas’ that questioned how “landscape architecture and the food supply fit together”. This is an excerpt of the published piece:

“A recent study by the National Young Farmers’ Coalition identified “lack of access to land” as one of the top challenges facing new farmers. The average age of U.S. farmers is 57, so it’s clear that in the near future we risk having food grown only by the largest corporations capable of paying market rates for land. Meanwhile prime farmland is being lost at an estimated rate of one acre per minute to development (down from three acres per minute during the housing boom). As landscape architects, we are uniquely positioned to directly affect where we grow some of our food and to rethink physical relationships between landscapes of production and those of consumption, to question dualities of country and city, productive and ornamental, and labor and leisure. By doing so, we can help create and preserve farmland, contributing to a sustainable food system.

Four years ago, I traveled across the United States to visit small farms integrated into more traditional landscape projects, such as housing or regional parks. I visited Sandhill Farms, a 45-acre working farm near Chicago; Appleton Farms CSA, a 25-acre working farm in a regional park outside Boston; and Zenger Farm, a working farm and education center in Portland, Oregon, on parks department land. These sites represent an exciting hybrid productive landscape and also help close the distance between where people live and where their food is grown.

Two years ago I was part of a team that planned a new subdivision focused on local food. The community was slated for prime farmland, and the developer was interested in mitigating the impacts. The final plan includes 137 acres of market farms, a permanent farmers market, and community gardens integrated into every park. Thirty percent of the community will be able to eat ultralocal food at full build out. Our firm has been approached in recent years by tech firms and universities planning on-campus farms to supply their cafeterias and has designed edible gardens for hotels and resorts. It’s time for landscape architects to think big, beyond learning and community gardens, to small productive farms. The impact of these seemingly small moves will be huge.”

-Ellen Burke, ASLA

LAM, May 2012

Tags: Appleton Farms ASLA Boston Chicago Community community gardens Ecology edible gardens Ellen Burke Environment farmland Feast of Ideas food land access landscape architecture Landscape Architecture Magazine local food market farms National Young Farmers Coalition Portland productive farms Sandhill Farms SWA SWA Group ultralocal Zenger Farm