Sasaki: The Future of Food

The Future of Food

Letter from the Editor

Defining the Future of Food A few years ago we conducted a nationwide survey, collecting 1,000 responses to the question: what makes cities great? Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, alongside historic architecture and access to open space, Americans told us that one of the most important aspects of city life is food. It’s what draws people to new parts of a city, and it’s the attraction people value most in a city experience. At the time, we made the case that vibrant cities need to make a priority of investing in food programming—restaurants, food trucks, community gardens—while simultaneously planning for and incentivizing food sourcing and systems at the regional scale.

Since then, our firm has pushed this initial hypothesis further, experimenting with new ways of thinking about food systems at a macro and micro level, working with a number of clients in the US and abroad to explore these frontiers.

In 2016, I delivered a TEDx Talk on the subject of urban agriculture. Around this same time, the United Nations put out a revision to their report, World Urbanization Prospects, which articulated in no unclear terms that cities are the stage on which we will stake our futures: “More than half of the world’s population resides in urban settlements,” says UN DESA’s Population Division Director, John Wilmoth,“and by 2050 it is projected that about two-thirds of all humans will live in urban areas.This unique societal transformation will affect many aspects of our lives.”

How can we invest in food systems that will create more resilient cities in the future?

Most investment strategies are based on the principal of diversification— to reduce risk, create a portfolio that includes multiple investments. That said, our current food system does just the opposite: its success depends on concentrated, large-scale industrial agriculture in only a few places. For example, almost half of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables grown in the United States are from California, alone. With limited additional capacity available to produce more food for a growing global population, California also suffers from periodic, severe droughts that can impact food availability and pricing across the entire country and beyond. As it stands today, our food system is at risk of failure.

bounds is barely understood by the residents abutting these farms.

I worked on a project in Iowa a few years ago that opened my eyes to this problem of farm-to-table disconnect.

I learned that right in the middle of “America’s breadbasket,” Iowans could not get secure access to potatoes. The potatoes they grow just a couple miles away get shipped everywhere else— because the market demand is greater everywhere else. As a result, Iowans can’t find potatoes on their shelves. I started to think that there has to be a different, smarter way to get food to our tables in this country and around the world. And the solutions we come up with must be local and tactile as well as regional, far-reaching, and strategic.

We are not at the point of making a revolutionary recommendation yet, but we have gathered some of our latest thinking on the subject of urban agriculture and new modes of food production and delivery in hopes that we can find others to work with in solving this fast-developing problem.

It is vitally important that we, as designers, as humans, contribute to figuring this out.

Some have said that as our world population continues to grow, water may someday become more valuable than gold. And, our food requires a significant amount of water to produce it. In California, agriculture consumes 80% of the state’s available water supply. Just one crop alone, alfalfa hay— consumed primarily by cattle—uses the same amount of water as 12 million households annually. This kind of water-intensive farming and national transport of goods is frankly unsustainable.

See, we’re thinking about food nationally and we’ve lost connection to local demand. At the local level, what is going on in the field just outside of city

James Miner, AICP

Contents

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A Case for ‘Sustenable’ Cities

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Agro-Biodiversity and the Modern City

We rely too heavily on California to produce crops that get shipped all around the country.

Systemic change will come through coordinated innovation at the local, regional, and national scales.

These days the plight of the honeybee is front and center, but there are countless other players, big and small, that have great impact on the health of our urban food sources.

Q&A: Green City Growers

Q&A: Henry Gordon-Smith

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Local Food as a Driver of Place

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Growing Green, from Cannabis to Lettuce

A growing local movement is rising across the country and around the world, as corporations, government, developers, local restaurateurs, and urban farmers work together to find creative new ways to integrate local food sourcing into their communities.

It’s time to get creative about pushing this burgeoning food movement forward. From leveraging cannabis interest to experimenting with hydroponic growing, the future of food lies in making smart, creative bets.

Q&A: Isabel Zempel & Philip Dugdale

Q&A: David Yusefzadeh

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By James Miner Across the nation, there has been an explosion in the number of farm-to-table restaurants, CSAs, farmers markets, and community gardens. In many cases, people are paying a premium for locally grown produce and proteins not only because they care about the environment, but because they believe locally sourced food tastes fresher and better. In other cases, urban agriculture is seen as a great temporary use for vacant and underutilized land. While these types of projects are inspirational, what anyone has yet to figure out is how to leverage the increasing demand for locally grown food into a truly scalable solution that can transform the agriculture industry.

It’s not that people aren’t trying— in fact, there are some really interesting concepts that have emerged in recent years. At Backyard Farms in Maine, tomatoes are produced year-round in giant greenhouses, and sweet, vineripened tomatoes from Maine can now be found at your local Whole Foods market throughout our cold New England winters. Sasaki recently worked with the founder of Backyard Farms, Paul Sellew, on his new venture, “Salad Bowl Farms,” which will bring the latest in greenhouse technology from Europe to Devens, MA, to supply daily harvests of fresh salad greens to the Boston area year-round.

Like tomatoes, the vast majority of the lettuce we eat in Boston today comes from California. And, 2 A Case for ‘Sustenable’ Cities

given that lettuce is over 95% water, consider for a moment that all that salad you’re eating is essentially the same as transporting water out of a state that is in the middle of an epic drought...over a distance of more than 3,000 miles...in a refrigerated truck.

There are many others starting to emerge who are also searching for solutions at scale. FreightFarms is a Boston-based startup that is up-cycling shipping containers to create programmable microfarms with LED lighting and heat and humidity controls to create optimal growing conditions for salad greens—no matter what the weather is like outside. And in Newark, NJ, AeroFarms is attempting to build the world’s largest indoor vertical farm in a 70,000 SF abandoned steel mill.

Nevertheless, industrial-scale agriculture continues to dominate the world’s food systems today, and many would argue that it will be hard to ever really compete with the fertile soils and weather conditions that make places like California optimal for crop production. But one could also argue that a food system with a broader portfolio of options is certainly more resilient against real threats like drought, climate change, population growth, and increasing energy costs—all of which can significantly impact today’s model of mass-produced monocultures that are transported over long distances.

This is where design firms like Sasaki can have an impact, and we are

already beginning to see trends in our work that suggest people will think about agriculture differently in the future. In China, we’ve proposed new urban districts that embrace agriculture, rather than displace it to the edges. In a project in the Philippines, we’ve included pollinator parks in our designs to assure that adjacent farmlands remain viable. Three summers ago, we’ve added vegetable gardens to our own office to educate ourselves about how much can be harvested from relatively small spaces.

The most sustainable cities are those that minimize inputs (energy, water, food) and outputs (waste, heat, pollution) with strategies in place that provide maximum resilience to external forces (physical, social, economic). I believe that cities of the future could evolve to be sources of energy rather than consumers of energy, providing real sustenance for those who live there.

There shift from sustainable design to “sustENABLE” design is beginning, and food systems are the center of attention.

OK, so maybe “sustenable” is not a real word (yet), but sustenance design is something people are talking more and more about

RETHINKING BIG FARMING

We rely heavily on industrial-scale agriculture for food sourcing in America today, but a greater diversity of sources will only help ensure the sustainability of our food systems and improve the quality of the food reaching our tables.

WHAT IF...

Cities of the future could evolve to be sources of energy rather than consumers of energy—providing real sustenance for those who live there?

(google it!). Several new concepts are emerging in the design world that provides us with new ways to think about local food production at scale. Going forward, if we spend a fraction of the time we currently spend on planning our roads on thinking about our food system, we’ll see significant change.

When you really think about it, it’s amazing that we’ve take our food for granted as long as we have.

James Miner, AICP, is a Managing Principal and Urban Planner at Sasaki who is passionate about exploring sustainable strategies for our food supply system.

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Our Food Supply System is Unsustainable...

Our current food supply chain has very little to do with local food demand. People can’t access food even though they can see it out their back windows. Rethinking the distribution of foods for greater efficiency will significantly cut down on unnecessary waste of fossil fuels, water, time, and labor at many steps along a food item’s journey from its source to the dinner plate.

OUR FOOD IS EITHER TRAVELING TOO FAR OR NOT FEEDING PEOPLE

WE ARE MOVING TOO MUCH WATER

Most of the corn produced in the Midwest is not for human consumption

80% of the water in California is used for agriculture

80%

85%

of food consumed in Iowa is imported, with most of it traveling 1,200 miles or more

of soybeans goes to feed for animals

“It doesn’t make sense to burn fossil fuels trucking thousands of gallons of water out of California, which is prone to severe ongoing droughts.”

92%

90%

75%

of tomatoes eaten in the U.S. are exported from California.

Tomatoes are 94% water.

of strawberries eaten in the U.S. are exported from California.

Strawberries are 92% water.

of lettuce eaten in the U.S. is exported from California.

Lettuce is 96% water.

MOST PEOPLE DON’T THINK ABOUT THE WATER FOOTPRINT OF THE MEAT THEY EAT

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12 million number of households that could be provided with water, equivalent to the water required to irrigate alfalfa hay fed to cows

...and it shapes the way we develop our communities in absurd ways

Sacramento, California A Case for ‘Sustenable’ Cities

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What if agriculture made it’s way into development?

What if cities were living, breathing organisms?

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Q&A

Green City Growers The following is a conversation with Green City Growers (GCG), an urban farming company based in Somerville, MA. Sasaki’s relationship with GCG began a few years ago, when we installed three of their raised beds at our offices. Each week, a farmer from GCG came to our office to tend the beds and offer agricultural training to volunteers from our office.The beds yield a wide variety of vegetables and herbs over the course of the summer and fall. Read on for a conversation with GCG’s CEO and founder, Jessie Banhazl, farmer Marie Macchiarolo.

Q: Could you give an overview of what it is that Green City Growers (GCG) does? How long have you been at it? How many employees/ clients? Do you track the overall yield of your clients’ beds?

We specialize in the installation and maintenance of raised bed edible gardens and rooftop farms.

Since our founding in 2008, we have installed over 750 raised beds, grown over 175,000 pounds of organic produce, worked hands on with over 7,500 individuals—and all of this done in less than two acres of growing space. We have up to 25 staff seasonally, with 12 full time employees. We currently maintain 160 sites throughout the Greater Boston area, including the largest rooftop farm in New England at Whole Foods Market in Lynnfield, and a rooftop farm at Fenway Park.

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Q: Most kids when they’re young want to be firemen or teachers when they grow up. Did any of you want to be… urban farmers? How did you get here?

Marie: I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, surrounded by farms and 4-H Clubs. My parents always had a garden in our back yard. Sometimes I would help, and sometimes I would just sit in the garden and eat a cucumber freshly picked from the vine. But as an angsty teenager, I wanted nothing to do with farms. They reminded me of the conservative, small-town attitude that I was pushing against and I didn’t understand how to separate the two. It wasn’t until I moved to an intentional community in central Virginia that I really grew to love farming. I had the chance to feel in my body exactly how much hard work is required to grow food for a community. I experienced the magic of stewarding and cultivating the land. Every carrot, potato, and tomato I ate I had had some hand in growing. That powerful experience set me on a path to further explore agriculture in the urban landscape.

Jessie: I didn’t have any horticulture background at all. I grew up in the suburbs outside of Boston and was convinced I was going to work in advertising and live in a big metropolitan city—the farthest thing from urban farming. I did live in New York for a while and worked in television production,

but I realized after working in that industry that I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life. I moved back to the Boston area where a friend of mine from college suggested starting a vegetable gardening business. I learned how to grow food in realtime through starting the business.

The key is to immerse yourself in it as much as possible. Almost a decade later, and here I am!

Q: It’s a really unique service that GCG offers. Did you have any precedents upon which to base your business model?

Jessie founded Green City Growers after her initial business partner had seen successful backyard gardening businesses on the west coast. At that point, there was no one offering these kinds of services in the Boston area, but the business model had proven effective elsewhere. While the beginning focus of GCG’s business model was a residential market, the company quickly shifted to include largerscale, commercial clients.

Q: I know that the Fenway Farms has been very successful. I’ve been seeing press on that all summer. Could you talk a little about how that opportunity arose?

GCG participated in MassChallenge, which is a startup accelerator program, back in 2013, and was awarded the John W. Henry Family Foundation prize for social impact.

This provided us the opportunity

Green City Growers, a Boston-based urban agriculture firm, transforms unused space into thriving farms, providing our clients with immediate access to nutritious food, while revitalizing city landscapes and inspiring self-sufficiency.

to meet Linda Pizzuti Henry.

Simultaneously, Fenway was planning to install a traditional green roof, and had hired Recover Green Roofs to do the install.

Through speaking with Linda, we pitched the idea of Fenway installing a rooftop garden, which she was really excited by! The fact that we had worked with Recover Green Roofs on both the rooftop farm at a Whole Foods in Lynnfield and at ester restaurant in Dorchester was fortuitous, and made the entire process of converting over from a traditional green roof into a rooftop farm really seamless! Recover did the actual installation (of the green roof membrane layers, the crates, the soil, and the irrigation system) and Green City Growers maintains the farm.

something that is thriving in the heart of Boston.

Q: Does working with major commercial clients like Fenway or Whole Foods make you hopeful for more organizations to embrace urban agriculture in coming years?

Q: In considering what GCG does, I can’t help but think of the saying “teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Do you feel that success for GCG is clients becoming selfsufficient, and no longer needing your services, or do you see it differently?

Certainly! Fenway Park is the most visited tourist destination in all of New England. We estimate that some 500,000 people will interact with the farm each year, so when you’re talking about that level of community exposure, there’s a huge excitement generator. If organizations and developers see the success that Fenway Farms has had in just one year, urban agriculture moves from being a hard-to-conceptualize idea to

Q: On a smaller scale, how do single household clients benefit from your services? What kind of feedback do you hear from families?

For many of our residential clients, the gardens are not only providing high-quality produce, but also acting as a teaching tool for young children and parents alike. We often hear about how the gardens have inspired more cooking at home, increased mental and physical health, and helped bring families and friends together. One of our clients used their garden almost like an afterschool club for neighborhood kids, which inspired many other neighbors to install raised beds.

On the residential level, it’s certainly exciting when clients get to a place where they are selfsufficient. We’ve also had a few clients who thought they could do it themselves and ended up hiring us back a few years later— something that we think speaks to the professional experience that our farmers bring to GCG. Success

would be for many of our clients to become self-sufficient, but that we will also find new audiences to instruct and projects that are ready to scale up (such as the Whole Foods or Fenway rooftop farms), so that our assistance will always be necessary.

Q: Do you think that individual and community gardens can play a role in shifting dependencies on commercial agriculture? What would an ideal mix of food sources in this country look like?

We think the key here is that no one idea is the idea. Community gardens and urban agriculture play a part in changing our food system for the better—so that it is more localized, more diversified, and more entrenched in the ways in which our communities live and thrive. The “ideal” mix of food sources, if there is one, would be one that celebrates this diversity rather than centralizing and homogenizing, like other industries do. This isn’t that far off of a dream, either. Fifty years from now, we think you’ll see a lot of technologically-driven agriculture (like aquaponics and hydroponics) complementing conventional agriculture, community and individual gardens, and new forms of growing that are still yet to conceptualized!

This piece is taken from a four-part blog series which you can read at www.sasaki.com/blog/view/681

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Spotlight

Urban Rooftop Gardens

Gotham Greens Gotham Greens operates four rooftops greenhouses in NYC and Chicago, totaling 170,000 SF. These greenhouses grow a wide variety of leafy vegetables as well as tomatoes, and they distribute to grocery stores locally and in neighboring states.

Gotham Greens constructed the first commercialscale greenhouse farm to be integrated into a supermarket, which sits on top of a Whole Foods Market in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

The food grown in the Gowanus greenhouse is directly distributed to the Whole Foods downstairs as well as neighboring restaurants—nearly eliminating transportation costs. This is a revolutionary model—proving that strategic locations for greenhouses can be found almost anywhere, including on top of grocery store.

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Fenway Farms At Fenway Park (pictured), home of the Boston Red Sox, the Green Monster no longer references the 37-foothigh park wall in left field. On Opening Day of the 2015 Red Sox season, Fenway Park took a bold step in incorporating urban farming into the famed stadium.

Produce grown and harvested at Fenway Farms, the 5,000 square foot rooftop farm, is sent directly to the kitchen of the park’s EMC Club restaurant. The

Farms produces a wide variety of vegetation, from leafy greens to hot peppers, and harvests over 6,000 pounds of produce a season. The farm is well within view of Red Sox fans, exposing thousands to the process of urban farming within the context of this historic stadium. Fenway Farms combines the past, present, and future—all along the third baseline of America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.

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“Gardens inspire more cooking, increased mental and physical health, and bring families and friends together.�

Agro-biodiversity and the Modern City

By Brian Chilcott What is an ecosystem? What are its components and how does it work?

For too long, both the science and the popular notion of an ecosystem was narrowly focused on wild, undeveloped landscapes. Cities were cities. Farms were farms.

Only naturalized landscapes were commonly studied as ecosystems.

Today we know better.

The more we explore the makings of ecosystems, the more complex we find them to be. Even now, we have cataloged only 1.9 million of an estimated 15 million living species on earth. Most of those we have cataloged remain obscured in mystery because the complexities of their lives—their functional ecologies—still exceed our capacity for scientific description. This reservoir of biodiversity is the very core of my passion—protecting, celebrating, and promoting it is the vantage point from which I approach all of our projects.

Humans rely on this reservoir of biodiversity for their very existence.

Without the millions of species with which we share our beloved planet, we could not and would not exist.

The scope and complexity of this dependence is truly astonishing.

Even the human body itself is an ecosystem: about 3 pounds of the average human body’s weight is comprised entirely of bacteria. From the air we breathe and the fresh water in our homes to the medicines that keep us healthy, we depend entirely on the biodiversity of the planet.

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Nowhere is our dependence more immediate and more apparent than with our food. Farms are complex, dynamic, and fascinating ecosystems. As farmers, we are the creators, the stewards, and the beneficiaries of the ecosystems.

Historically, farms were managed as zero-waste cycles. Between the livestock and the produce, all forms of waste were processed and utilized as inputs. In healthy ecosystems, waste is a misnomer and maximum efficiency is the modus operandi.

Vegetable waste feeds the livestock, livestock waste feeds the soil, and the soil produces the vegetables. But within this neat cycle are millions of unseen and underappreciated players with critical functional roles: agro-biodiversity.

The historic or traditional farm was a characteristically messy landscape with a mix of crops, pastures, fencerows, and woodlands that built a balanced ecology through the resilience inherent in diverse systems. Modern industrial farms, on the contrary, have resulted in ever-more simplified landscapes with fewer and fewer living components.

The heterogeneity of the messy farm gave way to massive fields of singlespecies crops and isolated confined animal feeding operations.

The traditional small farm was teeming with biodiversity— especially insects. Pest species were present, but so was an abundance of beneficial insects: the predators and parasites that feed on pests, as well as the pollinators that ensure fruit set. Over 100,000 different species

including bees, birds, bats, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, ants, beetles and bugs, all contribute pollination services worldwide. Today, many industrial farms rely exclusively on only one species—the honeybee— which is highly susceptible to disease outbreak and hive collapse. Similarly, countless species of beneficial insects once kept pest populations in check, though most of them depended on adjacent non-crop habitats like hedgerows, woodlots, and meadows for their life-cycles.

Our modern reliance on chemical pesticides has eliminated most of these species from farms while simultaneously selecting for resistant strains of crop pests.

Farms in the United States have increased fertilizer application over 700% in the past 40 years. In 2008, US farms also applied 516 million pounds of pesticides (up from 196 million pounds in 1981). As farms have shifted towards monocultures, a host of problems have arisen that impact not only the ecosystem but our entire society. The runoff of farm nutrients in the upper midwest, for example, is the primary contributor to Mississippi River eutrophication and the resulting hypoxia and ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico. Pesticide application not only eliminates populations of beneficial insects, it can contaminate groundwater, kill fish and amphibians, and wreak havoc on the balance of any ecosystem. Bumblebees, for example, have declined by over 25% across most of the northern temperate world. The loss of genetic diversity in food crops through the

BIRDS AND BEES

The plight of the honeybee is now well documented, but few people realize how increased fertilizer use over the past several decades has largely eliminated other helpful pollinating species from farms, compounding the detriment to our ecosystem and our society.

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ANANAS, PHILIPPINES

Ananas, a new community in Silang, represents a bold approach to enhancing habitats and social sustainability that celebrates the rich heritage of the Philippines.

By preserving the region’s agrarian identity, Ananas represents a wholly new paradigm of incorporating agricultural into the urban context.

WHAT IF...

Stormwater basins served as a breeding ground for beneficial insect predators?

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ongoing extinction of heirloom and uncommon varieties threatens the very future of our food supply as climate change and emerging diseases make common varieties more and more vulnerable in an uncertain future.

Yet, in cities around the world, small-scale, environmentally and community focused farms are experiencing a renaissance. Small farms are emerging not merely as sources of food; in cities they are becoming repositories of our cultural and ecological heritage. They become educational landscapes and interpretive sites where urban children learn about food and about nature. They become part of our green infrastructure as well,

providing ecosystem services rather than exporting pollutants. They bring communities together around the elemental joy of the pastoral landscape. With few exceptions, this has been happening organically, through the grass-roots efforts of impassioned individuals and with only limited intervention by design and planning professionals.

Design and planning, however, can strengthen this movement. As urban centers continue to expand, so will the challenges and opportunities for urban agriculture.

Now more than ever, as we imagine innovative functional roles of farm landscapes within and around cities, we must seek to rebuild the complex landscape structures to

support a robust agro-ecological system. As designers, we must strive to integrate sound science into the creative process and explore the spatial synergy between our natural lands, recreational lands, and our productive agricultural lands all at the interface of the burgeoning modern city. How can a stormwater basin serve as a source population for beneficial insect predators?

How can the landscape of a public park intentionally rebuild pollinator populations adjacent to a community vegetable garden?

How can we leverage diverse yet intentional native plant palettes to contribute mutual benefits with local farms? Can we design adjacent uses for maximum integration of

beneficial biodiversity back into urban and peri-urban landscapes?

The design of productive urban ecological systems represents a new frontier for designers. In the heart of Shanghai, for example, Sasaki’s master plan for Zhangjaibang Park locates community gardens in a transitional space between neighborhoods and a public complex of wetlands, meadows and woodlands. This design serves for maximum exchange of biodiversity.

Similarly, one of Sasaki’s current project in the Philippines envisions a community agricultural corridor abutted on both ends by natural areas that will function as source populations for beneficial insects and birds. By continuing our pursuit

of these ideals across our practice, we challenge the dichotomy between what is urban and what is rural, what is built and what is wild. We imagine an ecosystem that is both city and farm, buzzing with all kinds of life.

This piece was written by Brian Chilcott, a dear friend and colleague who passed away in 2016. At the time of his passing, he was pursuing his dream of working for the National Park Service to develop a wilderness preservation plan for Yosemite National Park. He wrote this piece in 2015 while working as a landscape architect at Sasaki. His warm, dedicated personality and extensive professional knowledge is deeply missed by all who had the pleasure of working with him. He is remembered as a strong advocate for environmental ethics and champion of natural systems.

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Q&A

Henry Gordon-Smith The following discussion with Henry Gordon-Smith is transcribed from an episode of Sasaki’s podcast, Design Chatter. GordonSmith is a passionate advocate for bringing farming into cities, and works tirelessly to educate people of all ages on the technical and theoretical values of diversified food systems.

Q: I was reading on your website, Agritecture.com, that you like to work with modern farmers—and I just love that term. I was wondering if you could explain what—or who—is the modern farmer?

I think the modern farmer is connected, and creative—not only in the approaches and technology they use, but also how they think about farming more three dimensionally. I think the modern farmer is more often than not, someone who grew up in an urban area. The reason I say that is because the fact is the average age of the US farmer is 58 years old, and that’s been rising for the past eight years, resulting in a lot of problems. There’s basically a whole generation of people that hasn’t been educated in how to grow food. So the idea of bringing food into the city has the power to inspire these modern farmers. For the first time in a long time, young people and older people together are getting really excited about new ag-tech.

Those are the modern farmers: the people who want to think

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creatively about how agriculture can be brought into the city and combined with their daily lives.

Q: How do you see yourself being creative in your day-today work?

The best way to sum up my approach is probably “energy first, analysis later.” At Blue Planet Consulting, we try to throw out the rules, think very creatively, and narrow down afterwards. I think making that kind of culture in your own professional life and in your company is really important. If you over think it or become afraid of failure, you’re really shutting yourself down before you’ve even taken off.

Q: How did Agritecture start?

I was in Vancouver for my undergraduate degree when I met somebody who had a unique business model around converting backyards into urban farms. I thought that was so inspiring and, then suddenly everywhere I looked I started seeing green—on rooftops and facades and open spaces.

For the past five years, I have been building these skills and gaining experience to make myself knowledgeable. I studied sustainability management at Columbia University and I started volunteering at greenhouses.

Agritecture was really born out of that, as a way to curate and share interesting information from the cutting-edge of agriculture.

Since then, it’s turned into a

great community for like-minded people in the urban-ag space.

Q: What relationship do you have with architects, landscape architects, or planners?

I always really wanted to be an architect. In some ways I try to think or act like them, and I certainly love to interact and communicate with them.

The current problem with the vertical farming industry is that it’s operating separately from architects. I want to make that bridge through our Agritecture workshops so that architects can design vertical farms into more buildings and spaces.

To dwell on this idea a little more: a lot of architects are afraid to take risks with vertical farming, because they don’t have the data on how it’s going to perform, how it’s going to operate, and required maintenance overtime, so this slows down investment in these cutting-edge approaches to food security. For our current projects is we have an architect on staff, so we will do the feasibility study for the vertical farm and then well build a team, either the client finds the architect and some of the engineers needed, or well help them find that person.

Q: What problems are you thinking about now?

I often think about growing things indoors that have never been grown indoors before,

Henry Gordon Smith is a Brooklyn-based entrepreneurial urban farmer. His non-profit, Agritecture runs vertical farming workshops that educate interested participants around the country. He also runs Blue Planet Consulting, which specializes in the design, implementation, and operation of urban agriculture projects.

things like rare culinary herbs that are unique to certain parts of the world. One of our clients at Blue Planet Consulting is the only commercial vertical farm in Manhattan, and they grow 300 varieties of rare herbs that have never been grown in these systems before. Most of their customers are high-end restaurants and home chefs. The possibility of growing something unique in a small space and getting that to urban consumers is very exciting.

One idea I think about is whether it’s possible to grow something within its own packaging to be consumed directly. Imagine, what if you could grow a smoothie—completely unprocessed with all its nutritional value retained—and ready to eat? It is grown raw and ready to be consumed. It’s a wild concept, and not in development to my knowledge, but it’s something we’re thinking about.

Q: Are there common themes among cities or is every place totally different?

I think there are common themes all over the country. It’s really about being able to grow more food per square foot, which kind of removes some of the barriers to entry. There is also a kind of excitement around hydroponic technology from a lot of young people—whether they’re urban or not. We sometimes do DIY hydroponic workshops with kids,

which are fun because there is a nice camaraderie when they build the kits. Then they teach the parents about hydroponics, so there are a lot of different ways to get multiple generations involved and active.

Q: What is your vision for the future of urban farming?

A lot of us don’t realize the agricultural impact that the generation before us made; it feels like we’re playing catch up and there’s not really enough time. My hope is that we figure it out in time. We need to build a thriving industry, a body of knowledge, and a wide network of collaborators and professionals who can grow food. My vision is that we will stop thinking about buildings and cities as consumers, but instead see them as producers.

Other than some economic value and shelter, they don’t produce as much as they could.

Thinking more utopian, every three-dimensional space, every room, every building, every city should have a production quota: water, energy, food, and waste management. It’s about reframing the city vision and reframing the rules for that.

Architecture is a driver for that productivity in these spaces. It’s so beautiful and chaotic that I think we’ll learn so much along the way by attempting to do it.

Listen to the full “Design Chatter” podcast on iTunes.

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Sasaki Unveils Design for Sunqiao, a 100-Hectare Urban Farming District in Shanghai

By Niall Patrick Walsh

20 Agro-biodiversity and the Modern City

With nearly 24 million inhabitants to feed and a decline in the availability and quality of agricultural land, the Chinese megacity of Shanghai is set to realize the Sunqiao Urban Agricultural District, a 100-hectare masterplan designed by US-based firm Sasaki Associates. Situated between Shanghai’s main international airport and the city center, Sunqiao will introduce large-scale vertical farming to the city of soaring skyscrapers. While primarily responding to the growing agricultural demand in the region, Sasaki’s vision goes further, using urban farming as a dynamic living laboratory for innovation, interaction, and education.

Shanghai is an ideal city for vertical farming. High land prices make building upwards more economically viable than building outwards, while the demand for leafy greens in the typical Shanghainese diet can be met with efficient urban hydroponic and aquaponics systems. Sasaki’s masterplan therefore deploys a range of urban-friendly farming techniques, such as algae farms, floating greenhouses, green walls, and vertical seed libraries.

Sunqiao represents more than a factory for food production, however.

Sasaki’s masterplan creates a robust public realm, celebrating agriculture as a key component of urban growth.

An interactive greenhouse, science museum, aquaponics showcase, and festival market signal an attempt to educate generations of children about where their food comes from.

Meanwhile, sky plazas, office towers, and civic greens represent a desire to create a mixed-use, dynamic, active environment far removed from traditional, sprawling, rural farmlands.

Sunqiao will not be an alien concept to Shanghai. Whereas western countries depend on large-scale,

46

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of people will venture to a new part of a city to try out a new restaurant

DESIGN INSIGHT

Recognizing the powerful draw of food and beverage establishments, we can activate new or revitalized neighborhoods by incentivizing restaurants—and today’s hot mobile food scene.

rural, corporate farming, small-scale agriculture has traditionally dominated Shanghai’s urban landscape. However, the scale of Sasaki’s approved scheme does indicate the increased value placed on China’s agriculture sector.

China is the world’s biggest consumer and exporter of agricultural products, with the industry providing 22% of the country’s employment, and 13% of its Gross Domestic Product. The Chinese government is therefore keen to preserve, modernize, and showcase an industry which has helped to significantly reduce poverty rates, and has influenced the growth of the biotech and textile industries.

“This approach actively supports a more sustainable food network while increasing the quality of life in the city through a community program of restaurants, markets, a culinary academy, and pick-your-own experience” explained Sasaki in a press release. “As cities continue to expand, we must continue to challenge the dichotomy between what is urban and what is rural. Sunqiao seeks to prove that you can have your kale and eat it too.”

Construction of the Sunqiao Urban Agricultural District is due to begin in 2017.

This article first appeared on ArchDaily in April 2017.

Agro-biodiversity and the Modern City

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“Those are the modern farmers: the people who want to think creatively about how agriculture can be brought into the city and combined with their daily lives.�

Local Food as a Driver of Place

By Chris Freda “Local food” is a nebulous yet prolific term in modern gastronomy. It is most often used to assign virtue or status rather than denote a specific geography—implying that local is better, though there is often little agreement on what can and should be considered local. Regardless of one’s definition of local—a geographic boundary, or their own broadly-defined community—there is no doubt that the trend towards more localized food markets is growing in popularity and reshaping our collective understanding of healthy and responsible eating and living.

In our view, this is a change for the better on many fronts.

Take a walk through a public event or posh restaurant in any American city today, and you’ll see just how much local food has come to define our urban experience. Menus overflow with creative mélange of locally sourced meats and produce; food trucks expose passersby to curated cuisines and a grab-and-go dining format that has become synonymous with urban space. Proliferating farmers’ markets and micro-breweries round out what amounts to a fullfledged movement. At the core of the movement? People’s increasing preference for what is grown and produced (sometimes quite literally) in their own backyards.

According to the USDA, the popularity of farmers’ markets and food hubs has grown more than fourfold since 2000, while the number of farm-to-school programs 24 Local Food as a Driver of Place

has increased more than tenfold in the same period. Its popularity yields plenty of economic and environmental benefits. Growing, processing, distributing, and consuming foods within the same market keeps jobs and dollars circulating within the region much more than the present system systems of complex regional imports and exports. From an environmental perspective, foods grown and consumed local to a particular region have significantly smaller carbon footprints than food in the typical supply chain, which currently averages a 1,500 mile journey from farm to table.

Local Foods, Local Places The positive effects of local food on the economy and environment are increasingly well documented, but what do we know about the potential of local food to bolster the identity, and vibrancy of place? We are starting to find out. While we might not have as much hard data, we do know that local food is a major driver for community-building and placemaking. And since “place” can be another ambiguous term, for the purposes of this discussion, we’ll consider “place” as the summation of physical space, culture, experience, and activity which give a specific geographic location its character and identity.

First, local food plays a big role in helping diners decide where to eat and where to spend their money.

According to the 2014 Culinary Forecast survey by the American Restaurant Association, the top

three restaurant trends for 2015 were: locally-sourced meats and seafood, locally-grown produce, and environmental sustainability.

Additionally, investments in the local food economy are growing across the United States. With examples as varied as year-round public markets in Boston and Flint, which bring broad swaths of residents, shoppers, growers, and vendors together, or community gardens in Detroit that bring purpose, life, and foot traffic to underutilized urban spaces, local food is integral to our 21st century experience of the urban environment.

Last year, we worked with a team of consultants in urban management, placemaking, agricultural science, and food policy to provide technical assistance to twelve communities throughout the United States as part of the U.S. EPA Office of Sustainable Communities’ Local Foods, Local Places program. In 2016, the highly competitive program received over 300 applications from cities across the country for 27 available grants, making it one of the most popular technical assistance programs offered by the federal government.

Local Foods, Local Places offers communities resources to integrate local food systems into their economic and urban development.

As urban planners, we facilitated discussions and design charrettes to help communities conceptualize creative and innovative strategies for leveraging local food to create better places.

Each community approached the program with a different set of goals,

WHAT IF...

Local food was central to community revitalization? challenges, ambitions, and ideas— as well as different agricultural and economic profiles. Some were looking to build a local food economy from the ground up, while others were looking to strategize next steps to further sustain and propel their recent successes and momentum towards a robust local food ecosystem. The following three stories show the multifaceted nature of food systems planning and provide a small sample of the ways in which a focus on food can transform the quality and possibilities of place.

Conclusion While arguably an under-considered element of urban fabric at the design level, There is little doubt

that food systems are playing a much more prominent role in our plans for future success and our designs for vibrant places. Food is at once a driver of economic vitality, a cultural experience, a path to sustainability, an opportunity for education and entrepreneurship, and a key component of personal and civic health.

While our team of planners, designers, and food policy experts brought a wide range of expertise to the various communities participating in the Local Foods, Local Places program, we continue to learn from the great work and experience of those using food to revitalize and strengthen their own communities and we carry their knowledge and lessons forward as we strive to build and support more robust, diverse, and healthy communities.

Chris is a planner who revitalizes existing urban contexts and helps to envision new places around the world.

HISTORY SHAPES DIVERSE FOOD GOALS Palmer, Alaska, blossomed in the 1930s as an agrariancentered community. Decades later, much of that initial intent is still a critical part of the city’s sense of place.

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Ten miles from Manhattan, Passaic, NJ considers its rich variety of restaurants its best kept secret. It applied to the Local Foods, Local Places program to develop strategies to share that secret—and to drive up commerce and recognition.

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Local Food as a Driver of Place

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Catalyzing Revitalization Fresno, California Fresno and cities across America are looking for creative ways to capitalize on a renewed interest in living, working, shopping, and seeking entertainment downtown. The city is re-opening a previously abandoned pedestrian mall, Fulton Street, as a primary, multi-modal downtown thoroughfare. The Fresno community is also seeking strategic opportunities for programs and activities that will reinvigorate the city, attract investment, and create an exciting destination that is uniquely Fresnan—with local food at its core.

It didn’t take long for the community to realize local food was among their strongest opportunities. The city benefits from a growing population of young people moving ever closer to downtown, and they are bringing their dietary preferences with them. Additionally, the city is bordered by some of the most agriculturally-productive areas anywhere in the world. Food is quite literally their business—and a revitalized downtown is seen as a prime opportunity to showcase their contribution to the world’s food supply and to celebrate the many cultural cuisines represented within the community through food festivals, farmers’ markets, food trucks, and learning laboratories.

26 Local Food as a Driver of Place

SIMILAR IDEAS AROUND THE WORLD

Chicago, IL, USA Plant Chicago, a non-profit, is bringing urban agriculture to the Windy City, work-shop style. Based in a 93k SF abandoned meat packing factory, it is currently home to 12 urban-agriculture related companies. These companies produce food through hydroponics, aquaponics, and mushroom farming, along with a beer and kombucha brewery. The key to Plant’s success is its circular economy.

A circular economy uses the waste from one business as a resource for another.

The process is explained in a recent Huffington Post write-up: “fish feed on spent barley from the brewery, and plants feed on waste from the fish. Kombucha cultures feed off oxygen produced by plants, while plants feed off carbon dioxide produced by the kombucha cultures.”

Leftover waste that doesn’t have a direct use can be converted by an anaerobic digester, a process using microorganisms to break down biodegradable material and convert it to biogas, to be used for heat and electricity. The Plant will create zero-waste through this circular economy and serve as a model for future urban agriculture.

Local Food as a Driver of Place

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SIMILAR IDEAS AROUND THE WORLD

Rosario, Argentina It’s often the toughest and most dire circumstances that give rise to the most innovative solutions. In Rosario, Argentina, food shortages stemming from an economic crisis in 2001 led to urban farming as a necessary solution. Years later, these citizens-turnedurban farmers still enjoy substantial support from the municipality of Rosario.

The government sets aside land for the farmers, organizes classes to teach farming techniques, and even instituted a program which pays urban farmers a monthly stipend to cultivate food. Citizens have taken their future in their own hands, saving lives and filling stomachs with local healthy food. While Rosario mainly revolves around subsistence farming, the government has set up markets which allow farmers to sell any extra food for profit. Today, this globally recognized urban agriculture program links over 500 growers across 700 community gardens.

28 Local Food as a Driver of Place

Offering Alternatives Baltimore, Maryland While the health and economic benefits of local food are among the most observable, it is important to understand the effect a focus on better choices can have on the overall quality of place and the morale of those it aims to serve. In Baltimore’s Upton/Druid Heights neighborhood—one marked an area which has struggled with protests, violence, and a lack of economic opportunity—our planning group found a committed convenience store owner who is using locally grown food to create a safe space for her community.

She replaced highly processed items like chips and candy with locally-grown produce, which are far more popular items with the young patrons who make up the neighborhood. Behind the store, she built a vegetable garden with raised plant beds, ornaments, and seating—a true space for the community in Baltimore.

Local Food as a Driver of Place

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Starting Fresh Gary, Indiana Gary, like many Rust Belt cities, experienced decades of decline as the underpinnings of the region’s industrial economy were relocated or rendered obsolete in the latter half of the 20th century. Today, the effects of such a dramatic economic decline are keenly felt in the city’s downtown, with vacant storefronts, houses, and office complexes dotting the main streets and neighborhoods. But while much of the industry has left, Gary maintains a passionate and committed population eager to explore new opportunities for a homegrown urban renaissance that uses local food as a building block to construct a new economy.

Long reliant on industry and large corporations, Gary is looking for ways to grow small businesses and nurture local development. Local restaurants are offering arts-based programming, new co-working facilities are hosting food-based businesses, and educational programs are training locals in gardening and farming. Gary has also created its own food district complete with shared kitchens, business incubation spaces, a food co-op, grocery anchors, food trucks, cafes, and local restaurants. Slowly but surely, the city is growing a new, and delicious economy.

30 Local Food as a Driver of Place

SIMILAR IDEAS AROUND THE WORLD

Aarhus, Denmark Argo Food Park wants to help feed the world. The agricultural innovation center stands outside of Aarhus, Denmark. They hope to be “the Silicon Valley of Agriculture,” with a focus on drawing vendors focused on agricultural innovation who can create a sustainable food supply for the planet’s growing population. It currently houses 1,000 employees on 44,000 square meters, with plans to expand an additional 280,000 square meters by 2030. Further, Argo Food Park plans to create a carbon positive city by using outputs of the agriculture and urban environments as inputs for each other creating a circular economy, a regenerative system in which waste is reduced. For example, excess heat and irrigation will be used as inputs to the green house, while agricultural waste will then be converted to energy by utilizing biogas created by the waste and using an anaerobic digestor to heat the gas and help power the city.

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A Holistic Food Systems Approach in Silang, Philippines

32 Local Food as a Driver of Place

Ananas represents a bold approach to urban development that celebrates the agricultural, social, and ecological heritage of the Philippines. This new vision cultivates—within the context of an evolving urban district—an ecosystem that actively supports a more sustainable regional food network. By preserving the local region’s role and identity as Manila’s Food Basket, and drawing from the essential elements of Filipino culture, Ananas represents a wholly new paradigm of urban living.

The plan seeks to reconfigure traditional relationships between farmland and urban development.

A series of Pollinator Paths, linear community gardens with a range of plot types, are distributed within the plan so that every resident has access to an agricultural plot in less than a two-minute walk. This novel form of urban agriculture allows existing farmers to continue working the land while mentoring newer residents in local farming practices.

Related community and agricultural programs, such as restaurants, markets, and a culinary school, are located immediately adjacent to the Pollinator Paths, creating further opportunities for economic development and innovation.

8.3

hectares of Ananas that will be dedicated to community gardening plots

In-depth research of the local environment and ecology was used to support a comfortable microclimate at the neighborhood and building scales.

A verdant, connected, and functional landscape network of agricultural plots, eco-corridors, and parks ensure the recharge of the region’s aquifer, while promoting walking and biking.

Plazas, sidewalks and trails tie the natural landscape with civic, cultural and entertainment spaces allowing the community to connect with nature and with each other.

A mix of residential, civic, education, retail, and service uses underpin a holistic community. The integration of employment opportunities with diverse residential offerings will foster a new model of development that is less car-dependent and more sustainable. Ananas responds to Filipino’s aspirations of living in a place that will make a positive impact on their environment and lives.

Local Food as a Driver of Place

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Q&A

Isabel Zempel & Philip Dugdale Principal and landscape architect Isabel Zempel, ASLA, and landscape architect Philip Dugdale sat down to talk about Sasaki’s commitment to urban agriculture, both in practice and in the firm’s daily life.The following conversation has been adapted from an article by Boston Magazine.

Why should a design firm have a garden?

Zempel: Gardens are great for bringing communities of people together, and it is super rewarding to harvest your own vegetables and collect your own eggs. You quickly learn what it takes to garden and keep chickens. While that might not be relevant to every office, this experience is so close to elements of our daily work. We promote urban agriculture, and we do what we preach.

Dugdale: Our urban agriculture initiative grew from last year to a much larger area. We partnered with Green City Growers, a local consultant that promotes urban agriculture, last year to do this.

Early in the season, their team helps you plant the seeds in either raised soil beds or milk crates outfitted for holding soil. Then you look after your own individual crates, and whatever you grow you keep. One of my crates has green beans, brussel sprouts, and strawberries—beyond being productive, the process is just a lot of fun. Introducing chickens to our little farm also presented

34 Local Food as a Driver of Place

an interesting design challenge. It was a great opportunity for a small team of architects and landscape architects to design a chicken coop. Not only do we have the tools necessary for fabricating the coop, like our CNC machine, but we also have the ethos of building and testing things out.

and that we’re happy to engage with and educate the community.

Zempel: We also have started an initiative in each of our two kitchens to collect materials here onsite to compost rather than buying them. The scraps that can be composted are put into a large composting barrel. Next season, we’ll be using our own compost entirely. Additionally, we just planted a pollinator garden to help with pollinating the crops. We would also like to install a few bee hives on our roof, so that we can harvest our own honey.

What’s different about this chicken coop?

Zempel: We took the design concept from the industrial style of mills, to celebrate our building’s history. The coop is a replica of a small factory—that’s how we got the roof line. We wanted it to be easy to cut out on our CNC machine, but also simple and well-executed. And bold—hence the bright pink paint. It also has a solar-powered electric door that closes itself 15 minutes after sundown and 15 minutes before sunrise, which helps keep the birds safe from any interested parties.

How did Sasaki come to have a chicken coop?

Zempel: We first thought about bringing in the chickens when we started expanding the garden. We are lucky to be in Watertown, MA, in an amazing old mill building right on the Charles River. We applied for a chicken permit, and we also gave a community talk on the public health of chickens in urban areas. Once we had the appropriate municipal permissions, I brought three hens from my home coop to the office for the summer to stay here and be productive. The city was very excited that a corporate entity like us is invested in urban farming,

Dugdale: In terms of building it, we had all the necessary equipment to do it in-house. From setting the first sheet on the CNC machine, we had it built and installed in about three and a half weeks.

How have the chickens liked “working” at Sasaki?

Zempel: It’s been interesting to watch the dynamics of the chickens themselves as they get acclimated to their home.

They have distinct personalities.

Whenever we have family events at the office, the chickens are always a huge hit with the kids.

It’s a great learning experience.

The chickens create a unique experience for our office, and I think they are a source of pride for many of our employees.

Principal Isabel Zempel and Philip Dugdale, both landscape architects, compliment their professional design work with a commitment to sustainable food systems. Zempel maintains a homescale garden and chicken brood, and Dugdale has been a catalyst and continual champion for Sasaki’s office garden.

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Spotlight

Garden Culture

Tokyo: Pasona Going to work at the Tokyobased recruitment firm Pasona doesn’t just involve phone calls and meetings.

The company has become a leader in integrating farming into the work day. They have dedicated 43,000 SF of their 215,000 SF office strictly to urban farming. The farming is done by employees with help from a team of agricultural specialists. All told, Pasona houses over 200 species of plants, fruits, vegetables, and rice. All of the food is then harvested and served in the company’s cafeteria. Vegetative walls are also an important aspect of the building, projecting foliage towards the street below. Yoshimi Kono of Kono Designs, the firm behind the building, says the focus was “the idea of a green building that can change the way people think about their daily lives and even their own personal career choices and life path.” He points to the constant conversations occurring inside and outside the building about the extraordinary plant life as evidence of a successful design.

36 Local Food as a Driver of Place

 PICTURED In 2015, Sasaki installed an office garden that extends off our deck and onto our parking lot, including a chicken coop, pollinator gardens, and a composting system. The garden is tended by employees throughout the summer and fall, and the fruits of their labor are enjoyed as an employee benefit of working at the firm.

Sasaki Why would a design firm need or want a chicken coop? “We promote urban agriculture and we practice what we preach,” explains Sasaki principal and landscape architect Isabel Zempel, ASLA, who led Sasaki’s internal initiative to install a productive garden on office grounds. “It’s very important for bringing the community together. It gets you talking to your colleagues and out of the

office doing something together. And it gets you closer to your food source, letting you experience harvesting your own vegetables and collecting your own eggs so you understand how food lands on your plate. It’s about testing the ethos we bring to our clients with ourselves, right here at home.“ The Sasaki garden continues to expand year over year and is in its third year running.

Local Food as a Driver of Place

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“Workplace gardens build a culture of inclusion and community.�

Growing Green from Cannabis to Lettuce

By James Miner There has been a lot of discussion recently about the impact the cannabis industry is having on real estate throughout the U.S. Most of that discussion has focused on the reinvigorated market for underutilized or vacant warehouses near urban centers, which are being turned into indoor marijuana farms as more states legalize recreational use of marijuana. Beyond the near-term real estate boom for industrial space, there is also great potential for the cannabis industry to influence another key market that is getting more and more traction in our cities: local foods. And no, it’s not just because consumption of marijuana tends to induce hunger in many people.

Many indoor marijuana farms use hydroponic growing systems to control light, heat, humidity, and nutrients to be able to produce a more consistent product. This same technology is also increasingly used to grow other leafy greens (the kind we eat in salads) and other highly perishable produce, the vast majority of which is grown in California.

Seeking a more sustainable model, more and more New England farmers have taken up hydroponic farming and are now seeing increased demand for locally grown produce that can be harvested and delivered to your plate on the same day. But, like any emerging business, there are economic challenges to this business model—and that is where cannabis can help.

40 Growing Green from Cannabis to Lettuce

Because the value of a pound of cannabis is significantly higher than a pound of romaine lettuce, the operating costs of hydroponic farming are less of a barrier for marijuana farmers. The biggest cost for traditional hydroponic farmers— other than capital costs to get a facility up and running—tends to be electricity. Indoor, controlledenvironment farming takes a lot of energy to maintain consistently optimal temperatures and light levels.

Even as the these costs continue to decline as LED technology become both more affordable and efficient, energy costs tend to be the factor that puts most hydroponic farmers out of business. This is less of a problem if you are growing marijuana, as the market for the product makes the operation viable.

Indoor marijuana farms do have other hurdles to clear, however, which means it is still risky business.

There is a lot more compliance work that needs to be done to grow cannabis. In the end, however, cannabis farmers have the same incentives to drive down production costs as all other hydroponic farmers do. So, as we see a growth in the number of hydroponic cannabis facilities, we should also see acceleration in the development of technology that is used to grow marijuana, which will improve efficiency and lower operating costs.

That should be very good news for the local foods industry. But why should anyone else care?

There is evidence of the growing interest in locally-sourced food all

WHAT IF...

Indoor agriculture gets an economic boost from the cannabis industry?

around us: farmer’s markets, public markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA) memberships, and farm-to-table restaurants are all on the rise. Here, in New England, there are several factors which make indoor farming a key part of the local foods movement: 1) our outdoor growing season is shorter than other places in the country, and indoor farming allows us to grow some foods all year round; 2) the transportation costs for some of the foods traditionally grown on the west coast (lettuce, leafy greens, tomatoes, and strawberries) can be eliminated if those same foods are grown indoors locally; and, 3) we have the highest concentration of urban population centers in the country, and these cities will certainly benefit from indoor farms that reduce reliance on food that has to travel great distances.

If indoor agriculture gets a boost from the cannabis industry, there is even more good news from a development perspective. As most developers that work in cities will tell you, food is a major driving force in the retail experience and

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of respondents cited their city’s culinary offerings as a positive attribute, and there was agreement across all six cities that the primary motivator for exploring a new neighborhood would be to try a new restaurant!

branding of new urban districts.

This is, in large part, due to the fact that the average American now spends more money dining out than they do at the grocery store. And, not only has the restaurant scene boomed in recent years, but it has also steered away from the large, national chains that used to anchor new developments, focusing instead on local culinary talent: rising chefs crafting seasonal menus based on locally-sourced ingredients.

With this booming interest in

local foods, new technologies in indoor, environmentally-controlled, hydroponic growing systems will afford consumers increasing access to hyper-local, hyper-fresh ingredients.

To test our theory about the influence of food on the urban experience, Sasaki surveyed 1,000 US urbanites. Respondents across the country agree on a few things: they want great food. 82% cited their city’s culinary offerings as a positive attribute, and there was agreement across all six cities that the primary motivator for exploring a new neighborhood would be to try a new restaurant! So, keep an eye on the cannabis industry—it could benefit you in ways you may never have imagined.

This piece written by Sasaki principal James Miner, AICP originally appeared in the most recent issue of the New England Real Estate Journal (NEREJ), which focused on cannabis in commercial real estate.

SYMBIOTIC GREENS

Many indoor farms use hydroponic growing systems to control light, heat, humidity, and nutrients to be able to produce a more consistent product.

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As the value of a pound of cannabis is significantly higher than a pound of romaine lettuce, the operating costs of hydroponic farming are less of a barrier for marijuana farmers.

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Growing Green from Cannabis to Lettuce

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Q&A

David Yusefzadeh At 33, David Yusefzadeh has already been in the culinary industry for 20 years. His passion has taken him from a small bakery in Kentucky to culinary school in South Carolina, from the University of Minnesota to Amber—of world renown—in Hong Kong, and beyond. He helped start Eataly Chicago with Mario Batali, two food delivery services, and is now following his own passion project in Boston.Yusefzadeh’s background puts him in a unique position between the supply- and demand-side of the food industry.

On one hand, his behind-thescenes experience at world-class restaurants, fresh startups, and everything in between has given him a professional understanding of culinary arts and food sourcing; on the other,Yusefzadeh is an insightful consumer with unique dietary needs due to Crohn’s disease.

David dishes on food appreciation, social movements, and changes he foresees for the food the industry.

How did you get into food?

I’ve been cooking my entire life.

By the time I was 12 or 13, I was starting dinner for the family, and by high school I was making dinner from start to finish. My parents encouraged eating at home, and food was a focal point of the day.

I went to culinary school in South Carolina and that was the first time I really encountered making something that fits everyone’s preferences or dietary needs. I cooked for roommates who were vegetarian or gluten-free, forcing myself to learn to make something 42 Growing Green from Cannabis to Lettuce

delicious without meat or dairy or grains. That experience piqued my interest in food sources so I went back to school to get a triple-degree in food science and nutrition, agricultural economics, and sociology. My studies took a historical and anthropological perspective, focusing on early economies of slave trades and spice routes and their influence on food.

What are you working on now?

I’m in this space where I love good food and I want to give back to a community, so I’m shifting my focus to working on my passion project: cannabis ice cream.

Part of my treatment for Crohn’s disease is similar to chemotherapy.

Chemo is a long and draining process, taking hours. By the end of it you feel terrible and you have no appetite. Cannabis ice cream is my way of creating something that will help patients with pain that doesn’t feel or taste like medicine. The strongest side effects of marijuana are sleepiness and increased appetite, both of which are taken away by chemo. Not to mention, ice cream is something connected to happiness and some sense of nostalgia—it’s a positive association for people.

How has this idea been received in the medical and food communities?

The greatest challenge is getting past the vestiges of an older generation’s mindset, which continues to drive political decisions. Stoner culture is

overtaking the narrative. For the people I want to help, they’re willing to do anything to regain their strength and appetite for life. The Mayo Clinic has been known for being highly innovative and they could be the first potential hospital to set up a dispensary. We’re also seeing state governments realize the revenue marijuana sales are generating in places where it is legal— Colorado, California, and now Massachusetts. Excess revenues from taxes open this whole new market. It also put different states on the map, nationally recognizing that marijuana is a valuable crop.

I don’t think cannabis ice cream will make its way to a Whole Foods anytime soon, but I do think as marijuana products will be easier to get and not as much of a taboo.

It’s interesting that because of the heavy demand, we’re seeing this dramatic supply-side change for what is widely still an illicit product. What are consumers demanding from food scenes in general and how is that shaping what’s on offer?

There definitely is a move toward increased accessibility to good food across the board, which was absolutely driven by customer demand. In New York, the South, California, you start to see these amazing restaurants that serve five- or seven-course meals for $100, which may sound like a lot, but when you consider the multi-course meal as a fine dining experience, it really brings

David is a chef that has spent 19 years in restaurants and hotels around the world. From Minneapolis to Hong Kong he has submerged himself in various cultures, learning their food traditions. David spent the last year working with Chew Innovation, and is currently focusing on food design outside of the restaurant industry.

accessibility into perspective. You get to take this journey through food while they talk you through why the dishes are progressing this way, what the flavor is. The customer is demanding good, real food and it’s reached a tipping point where chefs are making an effort to take their craft beyond the foodies. It’s infusing our mainstream dining experiences.

The best elements distilled into something far more accessible.

What has to happen to food systems if dining is moving toward more local, more accessible though still thoughtful and artful?

There was a massive swing toward everyone eating organic everything, but when organic retailers like Whole Foods jack up their prices, people can’t afford to eat what is supposed to be normal farming. They’re putting food on a pedestal. With that, the majority of the country can’t grow food for five months out of the year—definitely not here on the East Coast—so we need viable alternatives. Where do people in Boston get their lettuce in January? It comes from California. What does that mean in terms of a carbon footprint? What does that salad actually cost? The great thing we’re seeing about Millennials is that they do want to pay attention to these things.

People are exploring what it would it take for every Whole Foods to have a greenhouse. Then, they’re asking, what would it take for them to partner with regional farms to grow those products through the

winter? Would it impact prices significantly? Obviously there would be high costs upfront to explore this but in the long term the benefits absolutely outweigh the costs. There have been a lot of conversations around vertical farming which I think is one extreme, but there are options in between.

From where do you think this consumer demand is originating?

I see this in my own life from my peers and friends who have young children in elementary schools. It seems that schools don’t have particularly transparent food programs. Parents want to know what their kids are eating.

They know that Aramark and Sodexo are the largest contracts by far with schools and prisons, which is a strange parallel to draw for parents, I think. The former chef of Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark is now in New London, CT starting a business that puts chefs in elementary schools.

This service not only provides local lunches to the kids, but also educates the community, the staff, and the parents around frozen food done right. I think this could go five steps further, such as implementing a class that teaches kids about agriculture through a semester project— something that teaches them to develop an appreciation and respect for it. But I’m already seeing the broad-based focus on food sourcing crystallize, particularly as millennials become parents.

You clearly grew up with an appreciation and respect for food and its sources. Do you see this as an important ingredient for the future of agriculture?

Definitely. A lot of people hate cooking or they don’t want to spend time cooking. Maybe I was the weird kid willing to bake cookies with my mom, but I was genuinely interested in what was happening. Cooking is a lasting relationship, and food is the same way—something that takes time lasts longer. If you use the products of your own garden, that extends the relationship. You appreciate that meal all the more. Of course, eating better food is subjective because it’s about knowing where your values lie. I encourage people to do research for themselves to understand what the tradeoffs are when making decisions about what to consume.

Is there an underlying theme to some over the topics we’ve touched on?

Yes, I think that people are changing their micro ecosystems.

You start to see that people are more interested in where their food is coming from and feeling good about money going to local businesses, which I think spans the attitude changes toward marijuana as well as accessible fine dining. There’s an openness to new experiences and a curiosity about what food does to the body, which will only yield more experimentation and higher quality food.

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Spotlight

Growing in Water Backyard Farms The small-town charm found throughout Maine makes it easy to understand how people fall in love with the state.

Local farm stands can be found intermittently along the roads during the summer, selling homegrown fruits and vegetables. Backyard Farms brings that same love and care to their products year-round, by growing and distributing tomatoes to neighboring states. Founded in 2007, the company operates a 42-acre greenhouse that utilizes hydro-farming and strictly grows tomatoes, while employing 200 people. While tomatoes can be grown locally in New England during the summer, Backyard Farms greenhouse allows them to produce tomatoes year-round. The business then ships the tomatoes to local grocery stores and restaurants in the Coastal Atlantic area, cutting down transportation time and allowing Backyard Farms’ farmers to choose the freshest tomatoes, knowing that they will be on a consumer’s dinner table shortly.

Les Sourciers While many greenhouses try to maximize large amounts of space with many types of produce, Les Sourciers, of Lagraulet du Gers, France, believes that less is actually more. Les Sourciers’ facilities are comprised of a 600 square meter hydroponic greenhouse in which they grow a specialized selection of exotic vegetation. Such examples of exotic greens include Chinese amaranth, Chinese chives, and bok choy. By growing these within the borders of France, they save restaurants the trouble of shipping from far away, and are able to provide produce that is much fresher.

Utilizing this niche market, Les Sourciers has been able to become a highly successful greenhouse, while maintaining only two employees.

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 PICTURED Many growers are utilizing water infused with mineral nutrients instead of soil to grow plants, utilizing a method called hydroponic growing. Taking it a step further, growers also employ aquaponics growing techniques, in which fish eat waste and recycle still more nutrients into the growing environment.

BioAqua Farm The farm-to-table movement has become a staple of some of the highest quality restaurants around the world in the past decade. Antonio Paladino developed his passion for high quality food and healthy living from his experience as a chef in fine dining restaurants. Alongside biologist Amanda Heron, he opened up the Bioaqua Farm in the UK in 2011 which brought him away from the table and into the area of farming and aquaponics. Antonio and Amanda’s

secret to success is that they serve their own highquality comestibles as a catering business. To further differentiate themselves from competing aquacultures, they take an extra step in their cultivation of fish by smoking and filleting their rainbow trout to give a distinct Bioaqua Farm product. Similar to many other aquaponics systems, they utilize a closed loop, zerowaste system by repurposing waste into energy for plants through worms.

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“When you really think about it, it’s amazing that we’ve taken our food for granted for as long as we have.”

Image Credits All images courtesy of Sasaki unless noted below.

Cover Ben Boisclair Contents page, bees Darknesss/Shutterstock Page 3 Kristo Robert/Shutterstock Page 5 Google Earth Page 10–11 Green City Growers Page 15, top Nikhil Manohar Ingle/ Shutterstock Page 15, center right Lori Anne Photography/ Shutterstock Page 15, bottom Nikolai Belyakov/ Shutterstock Page 41, top Piya Sukchit/Shutterstock Page 41, bottom Olaf Ludwig/Shutterstock Page 42–43 Krzycho/Shutterstock Page 43, portrait Jesse Coyer Page 44–45 muph/Shutterstock

Sunqiao Urban Agricultural District, Shanghai, China

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