Farming in an Agriburban Ecovillage Development

A growing desire for local food systems has increased interest inperi-urban farming, leading to the rise of agriburban landscapes, in which a desire tofarm or to be near farmland is a contributing factor to development patterns. Interviewsand site visits to the Yarrow Ecovillage near Vancouver, Canada, outline an example of adevelopment that allows new farmers access to land in a setting with few tensionsbetween farming and non-farming residents in a zone on the edge of a protectedagricultural region. Although there are limitations to replication of this model, wesuggest that intentional settlements with an agricultural element on the rural/urbanfringe could buffer traditional tensions between farm usage and residential usage, whileallowing small-scale farmers a place to farm in areas with prohibitively high landvalues