We're Taking You On A Tour Of Urban Agriculture Sites In Atlanta

At this year’s AgLanta Conference, we’re excited to introduce a unique tour day experience for our attendees. Agritecture and AgTech X are no strangers to organizing engaging learning experiences. Agritecture’s design workshops, Xchanges, and AgTech X workshops are well-known in the industry for bringing communities and organizations together to educate and activate on urban agriculture projects. These gatherings are designed to create a space for participants to learn and exchange ideas, and we can expect nothing short for these guided tours in Atlanta. Agritecture and AgTech X worked collectively with these dedicated locations to curate five different tour tracks to highlight the diversity of the opportunities urban agriculture can create in our communities.

Day 1 will commence with our attendees selecting one of the five different tour tracks followed by a culminating  conversation led by Ryan Gravel of Six Pitch and Generator for a happy hour networking event. This experience is about sharing how we see the future of cities and the responsibility of developers, property owners, and policymakers to build in a way that meets the complex needs of a community. No matter which tour track you choose, we’ll regroup at Generator and share some major takeaways from each tour track.

Truly Living Well

Track 1 is focused on urban agriculture in communities. This tour track highlights projects where urban agriculture is integrated within community and corporate settings. We’ll tour Truly Living Well’s farm operation and learn how they use food to create a culture of health and wellness in their community. We’ll also visit Aluma Farm, who in partnership with the Atlanta BeltLine, was able to convert a vacant lot into a fully-functional organic farm. In the corporate setting, we’ll visit the Delta Air Lines campus. Delta has partnered with Bee Downtown and Natural Born Tillers to install beehives and edible/pollinator gardens at its corporate campus. They also host educational workshops for their employees. These are all great examples of community based operations that share knowledge to the public.

Global Growers

On Track 2, we’ll learn about the relationship between farms and wholesalers and what happens as they sell their crops. By touring the Common Market, a mission-driven distributor of local, sustainable goods farm foods, attendees will learn how this distributor navigates the procurement process and distribution of produce to a network of institutional clients. Global Growers will showcase how it works with immigrant communities and food insecure neighborhoods through an ecosystem of support, strengthening the local economy while making local, healthy produce abundant and accessible to communities throughout metro-Atlanta. At Fresh Harvest, attendees will learn how this operation provides a home and office delivery of local organic produce throughout Metro Atlanta. Since 2012 they have worked to create an ethical food hub in Atlanta by supporting sustainable agriculture, minimizing food/packaging waste, and creating jobs for their refugee neighbors in Clarkston.

Track 3 will showcase how large infrastructure like sports arenas and venues manage their waste, energy, and environmental impact. Learn about ways these sites are integrating farming into their facilities. This tour track highlights how venues and public spaces can pave the way with their innovations of creating positive environmental interventions while managing tens of thousands of guests. We’ll tour Atlanta’s largest multipurpose venues, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home to the Atlanta Falcons Football Team and the Statefarm Arena, home to the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Team. We’ll also tour the Georgia World Congress Center, one of the country’s premier destinations for conventions and trade shows.

On Track 4, we’ll stop at University of Georgia Food PIC, Atlanta Harvest, and Urban Sprout Farms and take a deeper look into how innovation has played a critical role in the development of each site. This tour track is great for those who have a background in farming and are interested in learning about the ways urban farms create innovative infrastructures.

Track 5 presents an all-day experience at Hickory Grove Farms, Kennesaw State University’s 26 acre farm. This tour experience would be best for growers, academics, farming entrepreneurs, and agricultural students. This track will be co-led by Farm Operations Manager, Michael Blackwell and Vice President of American Hydroponics, Joe Swartz. They’ll discuss the farming operation at KSU and how the Hydroponic system installed by AmHydro plays a role in food production for Hickory Grove Farms.

Need help selecting the right tour track for you? Visit the AgLanta website for more details.