Apr 14, 2023
Credit: CultivateLAND.
Meristem Communities' Clayton Garrett explains the idea behind Indigo, a community built around a human-scale working farm and pasture.
Agrihoods—or neighborhoods centered around agriculture—have continued to pop up around the country, with one of the latest being Indigo by Houston-based real estate development company Meristem Communities.
The new 235-acre neighborhood coming to Fort Bend County, Texas, has been approved for approximately 750 residential homes by builders such as David Weekley Homes, Highland Homes, and Empire Communities; 42 acres of devoted agriculture; a 25-acre lake; and 70,000-plus square feet of mixed-use commercial development.
Meristem founders Clayton Garrett and Scott Snodgrass are designing Indigo to “lead with respect for the land and the environment, carefully strategizing an interconnected resilience of all systems—natural, human, and built.”
To hear more about Meristem, Indigo, and how to tackle developing an agrihood, BUILDER spoke with Garrett. He touches on agrihood benefits, challenges, important aspects to consider, and more.
BUILDER: What’s the history of Meristem Communities?
Credit: CultivateLAND.
Garrett: Meristem Communities is a Houston-based real estate development company that was established in 2021. We wanted to explore how healthy communities are developed and nourished, with a philosophy anchored around creating Places for People, where humans are the focal point and the culture reflects the area's diverse demographics. Our vision is to carefully design neighborhoods that promote a sense of belonging, social and environmental sustainability, and human connection.
We lead with respect for the environment, carefully strategizing an interconnected resilience of all systems—natural, human, and built. Our approach to intentional community development is rooted in a deep passion for creating meaningful and fulfilling Places for People.
BUILDER: What was the inspiration for Indigo?
Garrett: Indigo is holistically unique, and we’ve designed it to give real voice and representation to people who may not typically have it. We consider it as humanistic development, focused on creating resilient residential life, work, and leisure where people of all ages and all abilities feel welcome. We view Indigo as the sum of a thousand small decisions, all of which connect and speak to each other, creating a community that operates like a thriving ecosystem.
The inspiration stemmed from our personal experiences of trying to maintain modern, healthy lives in the suburbs while raising children, commuting to work, and running endless errands, all while trying to make meaningful connections with our neighbors and communities. Needless to say, modern living can be difficult to maintain with the way many of our neighborhoods are currently planned.
Part of Indigo’s DNA includes a foundational connection to agriculture, so the community is built around a human-scale working farm and pasture. This is unique because modern development projects rarely consider an agrarian perspective. In addition to having 42 acres of dedicated agriculture, we also wanted over half of the community to include open space with parks that connect neighbors to each other and to the community core. That means mobility richness is integral to Indigo’s design. It’s not about limiting how much people are driving, but about providing more options for getting around. We have multiple car-free zones, pedestrian-oriented design planning, and safe streets. We want parents to feel comfortable with their kids walking to get an ice cream, and we want residents to feel like they can accomplish much of their normal daily business within a quarter of a mile walk.
We also believe that homes should meet the needs of the people who occupy them, rather than residents having to adjust their lives to the way their homes happen to be built. With that in mind, we tried to be as thoughtful and innovative as possible with the home designs. We’re reinterpreting familiar architectural styles into new forms, shapes, materials, and colors with a transitional and modern flair. We want to provide living arrangements for all life stages and family formations, because we believe Indigo should be a neighborhood that reflects the rich diversity and cultural heritages that exist within the greater community.
BUILDER: What is your favorite part of the Indigo project?
Garrett: We’re proud to be creating a community whose primary stakeholders are people; not cars, corporations, or capital. That thought is at the heart of all of the decisions we make. It leads us to a focus on walkability, access to nature, reconnecting with our food system, a community of small craft businesses and social cohesion. The culmination of these thousands of decision points is the secret sauce that will lead to Indigo being a place where people can truly experience full-bellied living.
BUILDER: What are the benefits to agrihoods and adding natural amenities to master plans?
Garrett: Indigo will create a complete community by promoting sustainable living in many forms, including a working farm and pasture.
Most people think of an agrihood in terms of farming, but we hope Indigo will expand the traditional framework of what a community like this could be. Agriculture is an important part of Indigo, but it’s just one part of a much greater whole. Residents will be immersed in a neighborhood that celebrates green spaces and natural amenities like trails and parks, not to mention a 25-acre community lake that will help serve migratory bird species and native fish populations. These spaces also enable people to connect and build relationships.
Indigo’s complete community will also make it easier for residents to explore their own personal sustainability practices, whether that means learning how to compost, harvest rainwater, switch to an electric vehicle, or be more mindful of their home’s energy consumption.
BUILDER: What are the biggest challenges to developing an agrihood?
Garrett: Developing a neighborhood with a working farm comes with various challenges, some of which are more obvious than others. Overall, it has to be financially sustainable while also providing community benefits that go beyond simply selling produce. Finding the right balance between profitability and community benefit is important.
Credit: CultivateLAND.
Weather is also a major factor. Sustainable agriculture is part of a natural cycle that humans have little control over. Sometimes there will be too much rain, sometimes too little rain, and you have to adjust to those fluctuations. Agility and adaptability are paramount when it comes to the weather variable. It’s something to engage with, learn from, and be part of, rather than something to be worried about. As developers we have to understand that this won’t be pristine or untouched land. People will be walking through the space. You have to be prepared for humans to interrupt the natural environment in various ways in order to keep the community looking good and operating efficiently.
BUILDER: In developing an agrihood, what are the most important aspects to consider?
Garrett: The integration of agriculture into the community needs to be well thought out in the planning, yet as natural as possible in the execution. In order to be both practical and sustainable at Indigo, we have to carefully consider the crops and livestock that are best suited to the local climate, soil, and water resources, as well as develop effective irrigation and pest management strategies.
Beyond the traditional elements of a farm, we wanted the entire community to feel embedded into the natural environment so residents felt more connected to the land, as well as to each other. Everything from mobility to building materials to communal areas and the businesses we work with are things we’ve taken into consideration. We not only want to maximize our connectedness to Indigo’s residents, but we also want to build relationships with city officials, local entrepreneurs, and community organizations both inside the neighborhood and surrounding it. Collaboration and outreach will help developers establish fully functioning ecosystem.
BUILDER: What extra steps do developers have to take to add a farm to their projects?
Garrett: Adding a farm requires cost considerations, just like any other amenity. Farms can be somewhat more affordable to install than some amenities, but they can be more costly to operate in the long run, depending on the programming offered. Installation costs, land costs, infrastructure and equipment, labor, irrigation, seed costs, education, and community programming expenses—these factors can feel a little overwhelming if you’re not familiar with this type of development.
BUILDER: Who maintains the farm and natural amenities after full buildout?
Garrett: Unless you have a unicorn farmer in your city who is interested in working with your community, then we recommend hiring an agricultural amenity services company. We got into the development world as consultants doing this work through our agricultural amenity company, Agmenity. Using a company rather than an individual provides stability to the farm because they can help provide the necessary resources, equipment, expertise, and staff to maintain the farm. Most communities that have hired individuals to maintain their farms have had high turnover rates.
BUILDER: What advice would you give to other developers building agrihoods?
Garrett: Hire an expert in community agriculture to help guide you as early as possible. Agriculture operates within natural systems and our current factory “input-output” model of thinking doesn’t work on vegetable farms. Expertise in farming (but farming that welcomes and educates the community) is critical from the earliest stage.
We also recommend including an eclectic mix of civic, retail, office, educational, and recreational spaces that engage with the farm to amplify its impact on the community.