Combining Urban Farming & Affordable Housing: Farmscape’s Innovative Agrihood Featured in Santa Clara County Crop Report

Lara Hermanson

The latest Santa Clara County Crop Report features the Core Agrihood, an innovative affordable housing development centered around an urban farm. As the project’s farm partner, Farmscape is proud to have contributed to the design, installation, and ongoing maintenance and programming of the Agrihood over the last 10 years. Located at the heart of Silicon Valley, this long-term project is a model for sustainable urban design. It’s also a great place for locals to hang out with neighbors (and their pets) to enjoy organic veggies, flowers and fresh air!

Agrihoods are defined by the Urban Land Institute as “multifamily or mixed-use communities built with a working farm as a focus.” As the first combined agricultural and residential development in the Bay Area, the Santa Clara Agrihood was a true collaboration from the start, designed to seamlessly integrate fresh food production and multi-family housing. Funded in part by the Measure A Affordable Housing Bond, the Agrihood opened in July 2023 and has 361 total units, of which 165 are affordable homes for low-income seniors and senior veterans.

Farmscape joined the team in 2015 and contributed to every phase of the project, from design through maintenance. We partnered with landscape architect Joni L. Janecki & Associates and architecture and planning firm Steinberg Hart to situate the farm into the larger site design. Additionally, we worked with WaterSprout to customize a rainwater irrigation system.

For the Santa Clara project, we were inspired to celebrate not only the local community, but the agricultural heritage of the broader area. Formerly known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, the Santa Clara Valley was once the leading agricultural producer in the U.S., famous for its orchards, plants and flowering trees.

The thriving new Agrihood serves as a reminder of the valley’s historic importance and acts as a community agriculture hub for residents — who can enjoy fresh, organic food grown just steps from their front door. Farmscape provides ongoing maintenance services for the farm, including harvesting produce and delivering it directly to the senior apartments. We also offer hands-on programming to get Agrihood residents involved, such as community harvests and weekly volunteer opportunities.

The Santa Clara Agrihood is a great example of how Farmscape uses urban farming in innovative ways to create thriving, sustainable spaces that help address climate change. With a focus on both beauty and functionality, we designed the Agrihood to feature a ¼-acre organic farm, a rooftop patio with raised beds and fruit trees for residents, and a 29,000-gallon tower to conserve rainwater and irrigate the plants. By selecting drought-tolerant crops and specially bred mini-fruit trees from Zaiger Genetics, we further maximized yield and conserved water while producing fresh food year-round.

As highlighted by the Santa Clara County Crop Report, Farmscape designed the Agrihood’s garden spaces with a special focus on access. All of the paths and beds are ADA-accessible, allowing residents of all ages to enjoy the farm. For example, we designed tall raised beds that can be easily reached by people using a wheelchair.

Also, we’re happy to report that the Santa Clara Agrihood is quickly becoming a multigenerational “hangout space” — one of our early goals. The development includes homes for people of various ages and incomes, including affordable senior and senior veteran housing, market-rate townhomes and a mixed-income building. For all the residents, organic produce, fresh flowers for bouquets and pollinators galore give them plenty of reasons to get together and visit outdoors.

In addition to the residents, the Agrihood benefits the surrounding neighborhood. Located on Winchester Boulevard and close to two bus lines, the space is easy to reach and open to locals. What’s more, we’re happy to support local businesses by donating fresh produce and flowers to them as well.

LOVE THIS SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN?

Farmscape Agrihoods are a model for accessible and sustainable urban design. Interested in seeing more of them crop up? Contact Farmscape today to discuss how we can work together.