The farming future of Northeast Austin could look a whole lot different if the city's latest "agrihood" initiative takes root, blending agriculture and residential development. In a movement gaining traction, Austin looks set to pioneer these new communities by combining housing with farming, an attempt to address housing shortages and food system instability.
A City Council Housing and Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday set the stage for agrihood debates, ending with a directive for staff to explore what partnerships and planning efforts would be necessary to bring agrihoods to life in the Northeast Planning District. With development stripping away some 17 acres of farmland daily, according to a recently released five-year food plan mentioned by the Austin Monitor, the agrifood concept offers a potential salve for the bleeding.
As reported by the Austin Monitor, Erin Flynn, co-owner of Green Gate Farms, currently the area's only agrihood, proclaimed to the committee, "Not only does our agrihood community prove that this concept works, it shows that agrihoods are ready for prime time. It’s time that agrihoods are made available to everyone." Flynn emphasized the holistic benefits of such developments, from affordable housing to bolstered food security and community health.
With affordable and market-rate housing as its cornerstone, the agrihood model could weave into the fabric of East Austin something fresh and sustainable. Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison highlighted the urgency and called for a swift city response to zoning and steps necessary for development, saying, "Austin has one, Houston has a couple, Central Texas has a handful, just thinking through what things are best practices nationally, but then coming back down and getting a little more granular and figuring out what’s best practices for us," in remarks to the Austin Monitor.
Yet, the agrihood model doesn't just propose a merger of farming and residences. It's seen as a career launchpad for aspiring farmers as well, a notion supported by Michelle Akindiya, education director at Farmshare Austin, saying only a fraction of their Farmer Starter program graduates find land to cultivate, according to their conversation with the Austin Monitor. Akindiya stated, "There’s this beautiful way where it can connect affordable housing, can connect that food access and food security piece with the farmer training and farmland preservation piece. It can be this multifunctional support system to ties these essential pieces of our day-to-day lives together."
