AGRICULTURAL PLANNING and DESIGN
Agriculture, both traditional and intensive localized production, have changed and are continuing to change rapidly. New skills and technologies and experience are required to design, plan and evaluate agricultural opportunities and potential businesses. Agriburbia Design LLC, a subsidiary of Agriburbia Inc., has more than 70 food and production related projects in various stages of development. Here is a short list of topics we can provide extensive expertise in:
- Agricultural feasibility
- Agricultural green roof and agri-voltaics
- Land and water selection and due diligence
- Complete farm planning, design and construction consulting
- Irrigation Design, planning, estimating, installation or oversight
- Agricultural business planning including, crop selection, value added production planning
- Existing producers needing upgrading and support for grants and loans
- New farmers or production locations including schools, hospitals, churches and other institutions
NUTRITION and HEALTH PLANNING
Agricultural supply chains are changing. Instead of a farmer or producer growing one or several crops in preparation for wholesale market, new or existing farms are preparing and calculating for direct to final consumer consumption. This deliberate and focused effort takes much of the risk away from the producer and saves time and energy while supporting very specific end consumer needs. We can help by providing expertise in the following areas:
Production and processing onsite not only provides the healthiest most nutritious food, it also eliminates single-use packaging, any significant transportation costs, and most refrigeration.
Keeping food production as close to consumption as possible is not only good for the patients and community, but also better for the environment by lowering the carbon footprint to nearly zero compared with conventional supermarket produce. This hyper-local or direct service supply chain is the future of healthcare and agriculture working together.
PRECISION NUTRITION
- Crop selection and farming activities planned carefully and coordinated to support the mission and business operation of project or institution.
- Agricultural programs designed as an integral and dynamic component that can respond and support institutional services and activities.
- Support for enhanced medical and nutritional healing treatments.
- Guidance for Hyper-local agriculture together with medical treatment, health and wellness programs, make it possible to both improve human health and help the planet at the same time.
EDUCATION
- Support and guidance in preparing educational and interactive classes and activities to aid in developing habits is part of the strategy for new healthier community.
- Planning for significant opportunities for staff and other community members to be involved, knowledgeable and educated about their health and the role food plays in it.
- Planning and design to encourage staff and community to be immersed in agriculture activity and be a part of it on a daily basis.
SUSTAINABLE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
Agriburbia has been involved in or the driving factors in over 40 private sustainable developments in 15 different States and three countries overseas.
They range from 10 acres to 2000 and encompass every type of land use imaginable. We have over 100+ years of experience in land development of all types but primarily focused on true sustainability including Food, Energy and Water (F.E.W.) Our work on creating and getting approved plans for sustainable communities includes deploying Agriburbia master plans by phase based on Agriburbia principles primarily putting the end users’ (buyers’) health in first consideration and the health of the planet right behind it. Interestingly focusing truly on the health of humans automatically makes healthier places with smaller environmental footprints. These principles include capturing within the development a certain amount of the caloric food production.
Agriburbia Design LLC portion of Agriburbia is contracted to provide design services and project management services from inception through the completion of entitlements. Project experience includes comprehensive knowledge of the entire development process from zoning through final engineering. This knowledge of the process is interwoven with understanding of agriculture, the food supply chains and culinary issues. Our plans and developments when completed are likely to have multiple new farms and agricultural enterprises all providing jobs and high quality local food within the development and regionally. These create marketing and sales opportunities that are beyond typical. If you are an existing developer, or have land or resources that you would like to see developed in an extraordinary way, you should be thinking about the ideas below and we are here to help achieve them.
- Creating Value by creating health (AGB building “Blue Zone” communities
- Net zero or regenerative development (creating more energy than used)
- The future is F.E.W.
- WELL Building and WELL Communities
- LEED and USGBC
- Collaborating with Sustainable Development Specialists
COMMUNITY FOOD FRACTION TM
Agriburbia has spent more than a decade working toward sustainable environments for humans in both urban an rural locations alike. Providing justification for including agriculture into new or existing developments, Agriburbia is typically commissioned by both private developers and also by city and county agencies charged with comprehensive planning to provide what we call the Community Food Fraction™. Agriburbia developed the food fraction, a regional caloric modeling methodology, to measure the impact and or sustainability of significant local food production. Using geospatial data including appropriate census data, Agriburbia identifies the caloric need based on population and other demographic information. At the same time, using the same boundary we identify the amount of local calories produced. Agriburbia borrowed from its extensive experience in traffic and water utilities modeling and extended it to the second most crucial aspect of human life (water is first according to Maslov).
After the initial food fraction model is established as a baseline, planning for and building in new food supplies and the resultant savings of water and energy can be measured. This methodology may be applied to any size geography or individual building. This is truly part of what is being described as “Green Infrastructure”. Here are ideas every city and town should be thinking about that we can help with:
- Providing proof of their true resilience, (economic magnet)
- Including food as part of comprehensive planning
- Agriculture as Infrastructure
- Hyper-local Supply Chains
- Including food and health in comprehensive planning
