Expanding Organic Edible Landscapes Across Atlanta

Expanding Organic Edible Landscapes across Atlanta

Lynne Davis MAY 2019

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................................... 5 TERMS AND METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 5 FINDINGS: INCORPORATION OF ORGANIC EDIBLE LANDSCAPE PLANTS INTO THE DESIGN OF GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVES AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS ......... 6 Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 The Challenge of Organic....................................................................................................................................... 6 Potential Markets for Edible Landscaping ............................................................................................................ 7 Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Landscape Architecture and Green Building Site Design ................................................................... 7 Affordable Housing as a Market for Edible Landscaping .................................................................... 8 Higher Education as a Market to Expand Edible Landscaping ......................................................... 9 Current and Emerging Work Related to Edible Trees and Shrubs ........................................................10 Summary........................................................................................................................................................................10 Trees Atlanta and Fruit Trees: The Beltline and Neighborwoods ................................................10 The City of Atlanta and Food Forests ............................................................................................................11 Metro Atlanta Urban Agriculture ..................................................................................................................... 12 The Atlanta Local Food Initiative (ALFI): The Orchard Project and Fruit Tree Sale .......... 12 Concrete Jungle......................................................................................................................................................... 12 Food Production as Amenity in the Private Sector .............................................................................. 13 Farmer Initiatives: ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 Special Projects and Other Opportunities to Grow Edible Landscaping.................................. 15 Potential wealth building opportunities for Atlanta urban farmers to grow organic edible landscape plants ................................................................................................................................................................. 15 Summary........................................................................................................................................................................ 15 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................... 15 Short-Term Recommendations: ...................................................................................................................... 16 Long-Term Strategies: .......................................................................................................................................... 16 APPENDIX ..............................................................................................................................................................................18 Appendix 1: Interviews ....................................................................................................................................................18 Affordable Housing: ..........................................................................................................................................................18 Appendix 2: Edible Landscape Plant Sources .................................................................................................. 20 2

Appendix 3: Recent Sales Trends and Variety Demand in the Consumer Market ....................... 21 ALFI Fruit Tree Sale: 2017 and 2018 combined totals ........................................................................ 21 The Orchard Project and Robby Astrove................................................................................................... 22 Trees Atlanta.............................................................................................................................................................. 22 Garden Hood: ............................................................................................................................................................. 22

This report was made possible with a generous grant from:

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EXPANDING ORGANIC EDIBLE LANDSCAPES ACROSS ATLANTA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Incorporating organic fruit bearing trees, shrubs and vines into commercial, institutional and municipal green spaces across Atlanta will create more useful landscapes that generate food where people live and work, an integral component of a regenerative system and of a sustainable future for all Atlantans. This study explores opportunities in Atlanta to advance such regenerative design though adoption of organic edible landscapes within the green building and affordable housing sectors; and potential opportunities for Atlanta urban farmers to build wealth by growing and selling organic edible landscape plants. This report also provides an overview of emerging trends and current initiatives in the use of edible landscape plantings in the Atlanta area and potential to accelerate such plantings.

Although commercial and institutional landscapes could incorporate fruit trees and shrubs, at the present time there is little interest among owners and developers, primarily due to concerns about specialized maintenance requirements and associated costs. There is also currently no demand for organically sourced plant stock. The same attitudes pervade the green building and affordable housing sectors. Green building/site design certifications and affordable housing tax credit criteria offer few incentives for food production outside of dedicated garden spaces; most existing edible landscapes have emerged from very specialized projects driven by committed individuals.

Despite slow adoption in institutional settings, interest in food producing plants in communities across Atlanta has surged over the past decade, as a byproduct of the growth of local food systems, organic and urban agriculture and improved access to healthy, fresh food, particularly in underserved communities. While these efforts have centered primarily on vegetable production from farms and community gardens, work to incorporate fruit trees and shrubs in green spaces and neighborhoods is gaining ground and provides opportunities to accelerate acceptance and demand for edible landscapes in Atlanta.

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INTRODUCTION In the past fourteen years, Atlanta’s good food movement has exploded onto the scene.

The regional food system now boasts extensive farmers markets, home and community gardens, school gardens, urban farmers, food entrepreneurs, an urban food forest, strong advocacy and urban plantings and orchards of fruit trees, shrubs and vines. These initiatives were seeded because Atlantans desire a food system that makes one healthy, not sick, supports agriculture that is regenerative, not extractive, and is local and community based. Atlanta now encompasses 579 edible gardens, 87 farms and 79 orchards as tracked by the Atlanta Regional Commission. Integrating edible trees and shrubs into commercial, institutional and municipal landscapes presents the next frontier for the good food movement to increase access to fresh, healthy food throughout Atlanta.

Pervasive edible landscape plantings in these sites could serve as a key land use to expand and supplement food production beyond home and community gardens and local and urban farms. The green building community has begun to integrate sustainable site design into the building process, and if edible landscaping became part of that process, green building could lead the way to adoption of organic, edible plantings in constructed landscapes.

Growing organic edible landscape plant materials needed for these envisioned landscapes may offer wealth building potential for Georgia growers and local farmers and support the expansion of Atlanta’s good food movement.

With the goal of accelerating the adoption of organically sourced, sustainable and edible landscapes in Atlanta, this study focused primarily on determining the interest, potential partnerships and sourcing needs to advance sustainable edible landscape design in Atlanta affordable housing projects and green building initiatives. Secondarily, this study also conducted an assessment on whether the production of organic, edible landscape plants is a potential wealth building opportunity for Atlanta area organic farmers.

The summary findings specifically address these two areas while providing a broader snapshot of the current use of (non-residential) edible landscape plantings in Atlanta, including key barriers and unique opportunities for advancement.

TERMS AND METHODOLOGY “Edible landscape plants” are plants that produce fruits that are safe for humans to eat, and for purposes of this report refer to perennial food producing trees, shrubs and vines (and not annual plants such as vegetables and most herbs). While edible landscape plants are often planted in community or other dedicated food gardens, “edible landscaping” is the use of such food plants as design features in a constructed landscape. Such plants combine aesthetics and food production, but do not include food produced for sale.

Modern edible landscaping evolved principally as an alternative to conventional residential landscapes.

A total of 60 interviews were conducted between February and October of 2018 to ascertain local market potential for edible landscaping in the green building and affordable housing sectors, current commercial and public trends related to edible landscape plants, and interest of the local organic farming community in growing edible landscape plants.

These interviews were held with key people and leaders representative of the following 5

sectors: affordable housing; green building and site design (landscape architects, planners and architects); higher education; permaculture design; activists, advocates and consultants; City of Atlanta food system planning; leading area organic farmers; and wholesale and retail nursery representatives. (See Appendix 1 for a complete list.) Online resources were used for general background and supplemental research.

FINDINGS: INCORPORATION OF ORGANIC EDIBLE LANDSCAPE PLANTS INTO THE DESIGN OF GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVES AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS Summary The organically produced edible landscape plant is not yet in the lexicon of ecological landscape design and is discussed as a discrete consideration first. Separately discussed is a threshold challenge of greater acceptance of food producing trees and shrubs, without regard to provenance, integrated into landscapes. Barriers to edible landscaping include specialized maintenance requirements and associated costs and lack of aesthetic appeal.

Native serviceberry trees and blueberry shrubs are exceptions - commonly specified in sustainable landscape designs - and are well-established in the landscape supply chain and widely available from local sources. While the affordable housing and green building sectors do not present significant opportunity to advance edible landscaping, emerging trends and leadership from innovators and early adopters may over time lead to edible landscape features in commercial and institutional site design.

The Challenge of Organic Presently, there is virtually no demand or interest in organically grown edible landscape plant stock in the commercial landscape market, including the sustainably driven segment.

There is a consensus among growers, nurseries, landscape architects, developers, planners, landscape contractors, permaculture and garden designers and farmers that purchase drivers for edible landscape plants are limited to quality, price and availability. Further, certifications and standards related to sustainable site design and organic food do not incentivize procurement of organic fruit trees, shrubs and vines. Although material selection credits in green building certification programs do address plant sourcing, they do not include organic production practices in the criteria. Standards for Living Building projects do not require organic plant material, and herbicides and pesticides are not part of the red list for material selection 1. One landscape architect interviewed related that during her work on a number of Living Building and Sustainable SITES designs, she has not seen organic plant production specified or discussed. In affordable housing, developers said that if edible landscaping were pursued, sourcing organically would not carry any weight in the process and would not be considered. Finally, the USDA National Organic Program has not driven a market for organic production of perennial plant stock; those standards allow the use of conventional plant stock for perennial crops, such as those from fruit trees and shrubs, after that plant stock has been grown organically for one year.

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Sources: Living Building team members: Lauren Mandel, Andropogon; Jimmy Phillips, Skanska

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Potential Markets for Edible Landscaping Summary In the Atlanta area market, with the exception of serviceberry trees, incorporation of edible shrubs and trees into commercial and institutional landscape design rarely occurs, primarily due to maintenance and budget concerns. Green building site design focuses on resilient, high performance landscapes constructed to manage stormwater and incorporate native plants. This general trend is reflected in the practices of two specific sectors that commonly incorporate green building standards - affordable housing and higher education.

Landscape Architecture and Green Building Site Design The market for edible landscaping in commercial and institutional settings is considered negligible to niche. Landscape design clientele - sustainably oriented included - resist edible landscape plants for several reasons: 1) specialized maintenance adds significantly to the landscape management budget (for which the current landscape industry is not trained); 2) lack of sufficient ornamental appeal and undesirable landscape traits of messy fruit drop and rodent attraction; 3) question of who harvests and related safety and liability concerns.

In the green building sector, green infrastructure elements are planned and managed largely for stormwater control. Architects and planners In Atlanta note that stormwater issues have raised awareness and created demand for higher performing landscapes that emphasize native plants 2. While there are many varieties of native edible trees and shrubs, owner concerns about the cost of specialized maintenance keep most edibles out of commercial landscapes. The exceptions are serviceberry trees and blueberry shrubs, tough native plants with strong ornamental value and where birds minimize the problem of messy fruit drop. Steve Sanchez, principal at HGOR, a leading Atlanta landscape architecture firm and a proponent of native edible landscape plants, summed up: “the palate is serviceberries and blueberries. We don’t get requests for edibles. We introduce the idea frequently to see if we have any takers. But maintenance costs and just thinking out of the box is a barrier.

Woodies (trees and shrubs) make the most sense for edibles, but if not tended, will be a failure. They need special maintenance, and rare is an owner/developer that wants to do that or deal with the mess of larger fruit.�

Rooftop agriculture continues to be very popular and frequently incorporated into urban green building projects. It is not, however, a good market for edible landscape plants as the the highly engineered soil required is best suited to intensive row crop plantings. (The Georgia Tech Living Building rooftop blueberries are an exception due to specifics of that site planning.)

Green building certifications specifically contemplate but do not require food production in the landscape. Current focus of site design in LEED certification relates to higher performing landscapes with site requirements for stormwater management and native plants. LEED BD + C provides optional credit for food production, but developers, landscape architects and others in the green building certification community interviewed all believe that credit is unlikely to influence or drive edible landscape design and that site 2

Due to their hardiness and high resistance, native plants can effectively filter stormwater and greywater.

Native plants help restore ecosystems, increase biodiversity and provide ideal habitat for wildlife.

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considerations related to landscape plants are largely limited to the mandates for native plants and stormwater management.

Sustainable SITES Certification, a rating system for innovative sustainable landscape design, also includes credits for food production. Administered by the GBC, its goal is “to distinguish sustainable landscapes, measure their performance and elevate their value.”

Well-regarded by landscape architects and planners, SITES has not yet gained traction in the private sector, but is an emerging standard in the public sector 3. Food production is not a requirement but can earn three or four credits, most easily accomplished in a community garden. As with LEED, design professionals consider food production in SITES a “sidebar,” dependent upon the purpose of the project, and not an effective path to influence the market for edible landscapes. As one green building and SITES expert put it, “the bottom line is that food producing points are a value added proposition. It is the green infrastructure and water management emphasis that will bring SITES along.”

Affordable Housing as a Market for Edible Landscaping The low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program allocates federal and state tax credits to developers of affordable rental housing. The developers then sell the credits to syndicators to fund construction. Developers in Georgia compete annually for the tax credits which are awarded based on points scored through an application process (“QAP”) administered by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (“DCA”). Competition for points is quite vigorous as only a third to a half of projects get funded; if edible landscaping is a feasible basis for a QAP point, it could motivate affordable housing developers to pursue edible landscaping.

The feasibility of edible landscaping as a basis for a QAP point was discussed with several professionals involved in the development and management of affordable housing projects in Georgia. There was some variation in approach to opportunity, but broad agreement on challenges. Best strategies were offered but with the shared bottom line that edible landscaping has marginal appeal to developers as the basis for a QAP point. Sourcing locally grown plants would have little to no influence in the point selection process, and sustainable plant sourcing would not be a factor at all.

A developer pursuing a QAP point for edible landscaping would likely apply for an “innovation” point for edible landscaping, though understanding the interplay of the QAP “wellness” points is relevant. The DCA works to deliver more than housing, and its “Healthy Housing” initiative requires wellness plans with metrics around improving health and education outcomes. The DCA awards three points for a wellness program; two of the points relate to health screening and health education, with an additional point for a community garden. It was generally agreed that edible landscaping would not fit within the parameters of this community garden point but that the DCA emphasis upon verifiable, detailed planting and maintenance plans would be pertinent.

Opinion was split on whether an innovation point would be a viable path. One view is that: 1) the DCA would not be interested in edible plants outside of the community garden, the pathway it specifically designed to incentivize food-producing plants; 2) edible landscaping 3

An Andropogon Associates landscape architect reports that the US General Services Administration now requires SITES for all new developments.

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is not desirable in affordable housing developments due to maintenance and fruit drop concerns; and 3) the specialized maintenance required for fruit trees and shrubs can work if confined to a community garden plan and not in the landscape at large.

The other view is that the DCA might consider edible landscaping for an innovation point with a successful demonstration project, but significant constraints would limit interest by developers. Noting that the DCA would not approve edible landscaping speculatively, the proponents of this approach believe the DCA would require: 1) a successful pilot with a developer who already has a tax credit; 2) the development of a standard program that is verifiable after implementation, prescriptive and quantitative (e.g., what percentage of vegetation would be edible, what specific varieties would be planted and why, how the plants would be irrigated and maintained); and 3) management company buy-in. In addition to a small market opportunity, the developers also believed a variety of constraints would significantly limit developer interest in pursuing edible landscaping as the basis of an innovation point: •

• •

Management company and maintenance concerns: “Edible landscaping requires a different kind of management, and property manager buy-in is a real barrier.

These are thin margin deals so there is not a huge emphasis on management, and the primary job of management is to maintain affordability and quality housing.”

Zoning and Tree Ordinances: “Developers think less about landscaping than most anything and primary concerns are shade tree requirements. Budget goes to canopy trees and turf.”

Innovation credits have a shelf life so potential to replicate is limited unless DCA incentivizes the innovation under the QAP (by creating a point), an unlikely scenario for edible landscaping because food producing plants already incentivized under the wellness and community garden point.

Higher Education as a Market to Expand Edible Landscaping Colleges are often leaders in sustainability, and Emory, Georgia Tech and Agnes Scott are no exceptions, with active and significant sustainability initiatives related to water conservation and management, LEED - and a Living - buildings, tree canopy certifications, vegetable gardens, pollinator protection practices and an emphasis on native plants.

Landscape maintenance practices include integrated pest management, but are otherwise standard and include chemical inputs.

Edible landscaping is not currently included in any sustainability goals nor are edible landscape plants (other than serviceberry trees) used in designed landscapes at these colleges. The only exception is Georgia Tech’s Living Building, under construction, where there is a plan for a rooftop garden of blueberry shrubs. While these college administrations do accept and support edibles in garden plots, there is not yet acceptance of edible trees and shrubs integrated in the designed campus landscape. Concerns include fruit drop, rodent attraction and bee attraction (allergic reactions to stings) and aesthetics.

While landscape and sustainability leaders on these campuses are proponents of edible trees and shrubs (and plant a few in less populated areas of campus), further support from college administrations must develop before edible landscaping occurs at scale.

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Current and Emerging Work Related to Edible Trees and Shrubs Summary Fruit trees and shrubs are getting planted beyond the home garden in Atlanta and those efforts and other emerging trends highlight areas of opportunity to influence edible landscaping and lay the groundwork for more widespread acceptance in commercial and institutional landscapes. The Beltline arboretum includes native fruit trees and shrubs, Trees Atlanta includes fruit trees in its neighborhood canopy initiative, the City of Atlanta is developing a large food forest of perennial trees and plants, and a regional urban agriculture initiative presents potential to expand public edible landscape plantings. Additionally, the good food movement has cultivated market demand for food producing spaces where people live and work, and a corresponding trend is emerging as real estate developers seek to attract residents with food producing amenities. Enterprising farmers in Atlanta understand these amenities require implementation, maintenance and programming, and they are creating businesses to harness those opportunities. Cultivating greater public understanding that food can and should be grown throughout the landscape, as well as how to grow, maintain and harvest that food, can help move edible plants beyond the garden gate and into the larger landscape.

Trees Atlanta and Fruit Trees: The Beltline and Neighborwoods Trees Atlanta is partnering with the Beltline to install native fruit trees and shrubs as part of the Beltline arboretum. The Beltline cannot allow food production that is intended for human consumption as all section of the Beltline corridor are part of an overall Corrective Action Plan with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division; however, native fruit trees and shrubs are planted for ecosystem and wildlife support 4. Thus, fruit is grown along the Beltline, and the presence of fruit trees and shrubs in public spaces can create broader understanding and acceptance and expectation that our everyday landscapes can feed us good food.

Another benefit of the installation of native fruit trees along the Beltline is the variety of fruit trees and shrubs planted. The Beltline edible plant list goes beyond serviceberries and blueberries, and specifies pawpaw, Chickasaw plum, American persimmon trees and elderberry shrubs in the constructed landscape design. In some circumstances, city ordinances require tree caliper of 2.5� (30 gallon size for container grown trees) and availability shapes the plant list. With increased demand for native plants and a residual recession-related gap in the market for large trees, sourcing can be challenging, particularly with minimum size requirements.

Fruit drop creates both challenge and opportunity for innovation. The challenge of rodent attraction and related complaints result in removal of some plantings in the city though most remain, and human foraging is evident. Greg Levine, Co-Director of Trees Atlanta, noted that innovation is needed around persimmons and pawpaws which ferment when they fall to the ground; he would like to see a group like Concrete Jungle 5 to continue investing in flash freezing and storage of this fruit, which otherwise falls to the ground and 4

This means that pruning maintenance relates solely to tree structure of tree and not pruning for fruit production, and installed signage relates to plant communities and ecology not what is edible for human consumption.

5 The work of Concrete Jungle is discussed later in this report.

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rots. Maintenance of the trees is a longer term challenge. The City assumes maintenance after two years but they do not have enough staff, training, or funding for the higher maintenance needs of fruit trees.

A possible new program for job training organizations could be the care of fruit trees, as the desire for planting more fruit trees grows.

Trees Atlanta also works to establish fruit trees in front yards across Atlanta in addition to creating canopy. Through the Neighborwoods program, Trees Atlanta partners with neighborhoods across Atlanta to plant native species in a collaborative effort to replenish and sustain the tree canopy, while also educating communities on tree care and management.

The City of Atlanta and Food Forests The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience includes an Urban Agriculture Director who oversees the Resilient Atlanta Strategy that seeks to bring healthy food within half a mile of 75 percent of Atlanta’s residents by 2020. Part of that strategy includes the AgLanta Grows-a-Lot program that provides five year renewable licenses for farmers, nonprofits and residents to adopt vacant, city-owned land and grow food. The Urban Agriculture director believes the Grow-a-Lot program may eventually offer opportunity to further edibles in the landscape and is interested in this study and measures to encourage edible landscapes. Another major urban agriculture initiative is the City’s development of the Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill. Located on a seven acre site in southeast Atlanta and part of Browns Mill neighborhood, it will be Atlanta’s first community urban food forest and the largest, publicly owned food forest in the nation.

Rooted in permaculture, a designed “food forest” is complex, perennial in nature, functions like an ecosystem, and most plants are edible or medicinal. Food forests need more resources to get established but are designed so that resource needs diminish with time while food production increases. Upon completion, the Browns MIll Food Forest will be planted with a tremendous variety of perennials, herbs, shrubs and trees. Volunteers, partnerships and neighborhood education will be critical to successful implementation and maintenance, and the City has established partnerships with Trees Atlanta, the U.S. Forest Service, The Conservation Fund, Greening Youth Foundation, National Parks Service, Concrete Jungle, Think Green Inc., and a number of area schools and corporations.

Trees Atlanta secured funding from the Turner Foundation to serve as the City’s primary partner on the Browns Mill Food Forest for two years. Two part-time Trees Atlanta staff members are in charge of site restoration, onsite education, some infrastructure, sourcing and planting, and maintenance planning. Trees Atlanta is also working with the Browns MIll community under a separate grant to extend the food forest by planting fruit trees in suitable front and back yards throughout the neighborhood. Also growing out of this partnership with the City is the choice of food forests as the topic of the 2019 Canopy Conference.

Historically, the Atlanta City Parks Department has not been perceived as an avenue of innovative projects such as the adoption of edible landscape plants. However, the City appointed a new Parks Director in October, 2018; Greg Levine is excited about Commissioner Dargle, who brings “a strong parks background and a can-do mindset. He

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has been very supportive of the new Food Forest in the Brown’s Mill neighborhood and is open to seeing more of them within Atlanta Parks future.”

Robby Astrove, Atlanta’s edible landscape champion, has been working with the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) for over a year to create a “fruit tree walk,” where 45 fruit trees and 30 berry bushes are to be planted in front yards in 2019. The fruit tree walk is a small line item but with dedicated funding. Robby reports, however, that continuing objections and concerns of AHA leadership has kept the project from moving forward. These roadblocks, indicate that a change in culture and leadership are needed for acceptance of edible landscapes.

Metro Atlanta Urban Agriculture With the long term goal to extend food system planning to all municipalities in the five county metro Atlanta region, Foodwell Alliance (“FWA”) and the Atlanta Regional Commission will select one pilot city in 2019 to develop a City Urban Agriculture Plan. Ten cities applied for the pilot, and FWA expects to make a decision and announcement by April 2019. FWA is partnering with Georgia Organics’ Georgia Food Oasis project to shape ideas about what food producing spaces can look like, and that work may present potential to pursue public edible landscape plantings. For example, Will Sellars, Deputy Director of FWA, sees the possibility to engage a partner to plant fruit trees and shrubs throughout the pilot city or perhaps establish an orchard. By way of example, the City of Suwanee added an impressive orchard to its large organic community garden, and private efforts help sustain and maintain the orchard. Beyond the pilot project, Will has seen municipal interest aroundpollinator habitat, but generally there is a lack of knowledge, experience and capital.

An initiative to build on that interest and carry it over to fruit trees and shrubs may be a way to add edibles into public landscapes as well as provide opportunity to create work for farmers in planning, programming and sustainable management techniques, as discussed under Farmer Initiatives below.

The Atlanta Local Food Initiative (ALFI): The Orchard Project and Fruit Tree Sale A diverse coalition of stakeholders working to build a more sustainable food system for metro Atlanta make up the Atlanta Local Food Initiative (“ALFI”). The stakeholder group includes communities, nonprofits, universities, government agencies, individuals and corporations. ALFI envisions a transformed food system in which every metro Atlanta resident has access to safe, nutritious and affordable food produced by a thriving network of sustainable farms and gardens. For the past nine years, ALFI has hosted a Fruit Tree Sale selling thousands of plants to residents, farmers and businesses and helping populate more than fifty varieties of fruit trees, bushes and vines. A byproduct of this annual event was the creation of the ALFI Orchard Project which used proceeds from the event to plant more than 50 orchards across the city. The 10th anniversary will be held in early 2020 and presents an opportunity to encourage more widespread adoption of edible landscapes.

Concrete Jungle The work of Concrete Jungle highlights the value of fruit trees as part of our community food system. An Atlanta non-profit organization, Concrete Jungle harvests overlooked and underutilized fruit from trees in the metro area and donates to food banks, shelters and people in need. It harvests all of its food from the thousands of fruit and nut trees growing in the Atlanta area - in yards, on the side of the road, and next to buildings. More than 90,000 12

pounds of fruits and vegetables and have been harvested and donated to food banks and shelters to date. Concrete Jungle also maintains an online Food Map of Atlanta with over 3,200 fruit trees documented, half of which are accessible to the public and the other half located in residential yards. Katherine Kennedy, Concrete Jungle’s executive director, acknowledges the growing interest in edibles and cited the Beltline, Grow-A-Lot, and Browns Mill Food Forest as exciting initiatives that can potentially spur further adoption. “A full grown apple tree can produce 500 pounds of fruit on an annual basis”, Kennedy said, “not only can we feed people healthy food in their own communities but we could actually employ them in building and maintaining those edible landscapes.” Concrete Jungle hopes to advocate for more edible landscaping in schools and workplaces in the years ahead.

Food Production as Amenity in the Private Sector The good food movement has expanded its influence beyond the organic food market and school and community gardens into the world of real estate development. In 2016, the Urban Land Institute published “Cultivating Development: Trends and Opportunities at the Intersection of Food and Real Estate,” which “explores the mutually beneficial relationship between food-based amenities, including farms and community gardens, and real estate and highlights how the growing interest and awareness in fresh, local food is spurring innovation in development projects.” ULI uses the term “agrihood” to capture what it calls a growing trend of “residential or mixed-use developments built with a working farm or garden as a focus” and educates and advocates for best practices.

Reflecting the emerging national trend, food producing spaces are beginning to be perceived as an attractive amenity in real estate developments in and around Atlanta, typically within dedicated spaces such as a community garden or working farm and across differing economic sectors. Potential for a food forest centered around perennial forbs, shrubs, vines and trees falls within this concept as well. In the Atlanta area, for example, the mixed-use master planned community, Serenbe, recently added a food forest to one of its villages.

Fruit trees in the landscape came about in a different way for the Chosewood Park neighborhood in south Atlanta. There, a real estate group with 20 rental houses initiated an “Edible Neighborhood” plan to help revitalize and stabilize the neighborhood. Working with Trees Atlanta and Robby Astrove for implementation, the real estate group planted fruit trees at the front edges of their properties, with the idea that the fruit could be harvested by neighborhood residents. The concept caught on and catalyzed the neighborhood, and it now works with a nonprofit to plant in right of ways and more front yards and to assist with maintenance.

The food-producing amenity is showing up at existing multi-family complexes, too. One example is Greenleaf Management, the property management arm of a real estate company that owns and manages affordable rent apartment complexes, mostly in the Atlanta area. With the stated objective of stabilizing their properties by positively impacting residents, Greenleaf created Greenleaf Community Farms, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, for the purpose of implementing and expanding community farms and gardens for Greenleaf properties. Christa Leonard, the farmer who runs Greenleaf Community Farms, has created a small pilot farm on one of the properties with a two-acre farm in the works on another. Chrisa is also working to create a flexible farm plan intended to be replicable across Greenleaf’s various properties and to create value for both residents and management (e.g., an improved resident retention rate and better communities). Christa 13

believes that incorporating edible plants beyond the garden fence and into the landscape can be a natural progression with a staff farmer to implement, maintain and educate.

Farmer Initiatives: The farm or community garden amenity requires professional management and maintenance and will bring along new job opportunities for farmers, and indeed, farmers in Atlanta are already working to create businesses to meet the needs of this emerging market. The amenity concept also translates well to corporate campuses at the intersection of sustainability goals and employee wellness. Farmer-driven planning, programming, and maintenance of food gardens in the amenity context can educate and cultivate interest in growing food sustainably and create professional specialty work for farmers. Again, the current opportunity is centered around edibles within the context of specific food producing spaces but can lay the groundwork for understanding food production where people live and work, whether inside or outside the bounds of the garden or farm.

One former farmer and sustainable farm advocate, Cory Mosser, is leveraging his farm skills to meet the amenity market and bring sustainable farming experience to residential communities and the workplace, a business he would not have believed possible four or five years ago. Cory worked as an organic farm manager for a number of years before starting Natural Born Tillers, an organic farm consulting business. In 2018, Cory added institutional consulting as a service, “professionalizing” the space of the food producing landscape amenity; he designs, installs and maintains food gardens organically and plans programming, returning on a scheduled basis to educate and interact with employee or community members. Estimating that a high percentage of urban farmers stop farming within five years, Cory’s primary motivation is to create jobs for these farmers who want to be in urban areas and make a living with their skill sets. Cory also wages an “awareness campaign,” in promoting his philosophy of sustainable, food-producing landscapes and teaching others how to grow food.

Currently, Cory is developing the business model as he works with his first clients; not yet advertising, his business is growing by word of mouth. His goals include adding 15 sites in 2019 and employing ten (former) farmers four days a week with health care benefits. On the real estate side, Cory now works with Epicity Real Estate Services, a property management company in Atlanta, as well as five real estate developments in three states.

He anticipates that his fastest growing market will be real estate developers incorporating food producing spaces as amenity, a relatively low cost way to attract customers.

Cory sees corporate interest in food producing landscapes as well. Current corporate clients are Delta Airlines and Adult Swim (Turner Broadcasting). Cory’s work with Delta began by teaching employees about growing sustainable food on a campus garden; Delta expanded and formalized the process into the“Delta Edible Campus Initiative,” which includes a blueberry patch, 15 raised beds, an herb spiral, and a planned orchard. Delta also is looking to expand this pilot to their other corporate campuses. Delta is motivated by both employee wellness and sustainability goals, where employees who get outside and engage are happier and healthier, and where ecosystem changes to the landscape (in the food producing areas) decrease both pesticide use and water consumption. As an indication of growing interest in food gardening at the corporate level, Cory relates that a Georgia Tech professor is conducting a longitudinal study about the effects of the Delta initiative on employee productivity, wellness and happiness. Delta also recognizes that these amenities 14

can appeal to and attract strong candidates and young professionals in a competitive labor market.

Special Projects and Other Opportunities to Grow Edible Landscaping Grounds of Faith-Based Groups: Several people interviewed proposed an initiative to incorporate edible landscaping into the grounds of churches and synagogues where turf is typically the predominant landscape feature. The vision is that the churches begin to cultivate underutilized grounds to grow food as part of their mission in their communities, especially in underserved neighborhoods. The thinking is that edible landscape plantings or small orchards may weather leadership changes better than community gardens and present opportunities to grow food, create biodiversity, and encourage community and land stewardship.

Master Gardeners and Habitat for Humanity: Christina Gibson, community herbalist and local food advocate, mentioned an idea that grew out of a presentation she gave to a Master Gardener group, the potential to work with Master Gardeners and Habitat for Humanity to expand edible landscaping. Several Master Gardener groups in Atlanta partner with Habitat to provide landscape design for Habitat for Humanity houses. These groups are interested in more useful plantings, but the typical budget allows for two trees and turf only. A larger budget could fund an initiative to educate the Master Gardeners about using food producing trees and shrubs and pollinator friendly ground cover, as well as training for the homeowners.

Potential wealth building opportunities for Atlanta urban farmers to grow organic edible landscape plants Summary Local organic farmers interviewed do not consider growing edible landscape plants to be a potential profitable avenue of diversification due to significant challenges of investment costs and risks of adding new processes to their farms. If demand for organic edible landscape plants develops, however, there are existing small organic growers of specific edible landscape plants who could expand production. With respect to conventionally grown edible landscape plants, the plants in demand in the commercial market are readily available locally in a well-oiled supply chain where price, availability and quality are the drivers. The nursery business at the commercial scale is a demanding and sophisticated enterprise where margins are thin and not compatible with the often fragile nature of small farm operations. A more detail assessment was conducted on this topic and is available upon request from Georgia Organics.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Efforts to grow good food in the urban landscape are gaining traction, and Atlanta’s nonprofit and grassroots community is pioneering efforts to accelerate acceptance of food producing trees and shrubs in landscapes across the city. Early adopters of edible landscaping are unlikely to come out of the green design process, where maintenance and 15

budget concerns inhibit acceptance of edibles in designed landscapes. The same is true for the affordable housing market, where edible landscaping offers little potential appeal to developers, though there may be opportunity to enable and sustain food producing gardens. And while there is not yet a market for organically grown edible landscape plants, building a bridge to that future starts with creating landscapes where fruit trees and shrubs are commonplace, extending food supply across communities and allowing sustainable landscape practices to take root. As demand for sustainably grown plant stock develops, it can be met by growers who specialize in organic plant production rather than expanding the processes of the small organic farmer. Farmers can play a key role in the expansion of edible landscape plantings, however, where a market for their skills is emerging among real estate developers and corporations looking to translate consumer demand for good food into a “food-producing amenity.�

Edible landscaping across Atlanta will enhance existing functions of green spaces by generating food where people live and work and is an integral component of a regenerative system and of a sustainable future where communities can provide for themselves.

Working within the good food movement to integrate edible landscapes as part of a broader community-based food system can drive acceptance and demand for edible plantings beyond farms and gardens. To influence the adoption of edible landscape systems across Atlanta, Georgia Organics recommends pursuing three short term projects along with several longer term strategies.

Short-Term Recommendations: 1. Explore viability of working to develop an edible landscape program with Habitat for Humanity and Master Gardeners with the intent to seed a pilot project.

2. Explore opportunities to partner with the Atlanta Regional Commission, Food Well Alliance and the Georgia Food Oasis project to advance and support integrating fruit trees and shrubs on municipal lands as part of the metro-area City Urban Agriculture Plan initiative.

3. Create an educational presentation designed to foster the understanding that edible landscape systems are an integral component of a sustainable food system in Georgia, and secure opportunities to present at conferences and in-house educational sessions of interested or targeted groups. For example, consider presentations for conferences of Georgia Organics and other good food advocacy groups; the ALFI Fruit Tree Sale; a Trees Atlanta Lunch and Learn; as well as looking to interested municipalities, institutions, and nonprofits.

Long-Term Strategies: 1. Assemble interested key leaders and innovators in a working group to set realistic five year goals to facilitate the positive impact of edible landscapes across Atlanta.

2. Showcase and tour existing projects like Grow-A-Lot, Chosewood Park and the Beltline with interested parties and potential influencers and adopters to highlight existing edible landscapes 3. Explore opportunities to partner with interested municipalities to plant fruit trees and shrubs and pollinator plants in right of ways and public places.

4. Partner with ALFI and The Orchard Project to expand orchards across Atlanta.

5. Seed pilot projects where there is interest and impact: 16

a. Explore a partnership with Trees Atlanta to find another “edible neighborhood� candidate and support that development. b. Explore areas to influence sustainable land management practices, for example, a pilot initiative at a local college or university. c. Fund an orchard at Emory University or Georgia Tech. d. Explore interest and feasibility of an initiative to establish orchards on the grounds of faith based organizations.

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APPENDIX Appendix 1: Interviews To ascertain the local market potential for edible landscaping in the green building and affordable housing sectors, to further explore current local commercial and public trends related to edible landscape plants, and to determine the interest of the local organic farming community in growing edible landscape plants, 60 interviews were conducted by meeting or phone call between February and October of 2018. Interviews were conducted with the following:

Affordable Housing: Gray Kelly, Acquaint Company, developer in affordable housing sector, SouthFace alum o Greg Bayard, Parallel Housing, Inc., developer in affordable housing sector o Christina Davis, Senior Project Manager, Columbia Residential, affordable house development and management company o Jennifer Owens, Columbia Residential- Vice President of Resident Services, Columbia Residential o Michael Kidd, Principal, Root Design Studio, LA for Greg Bayard (Affordable Housing developer) o Kathryn Barnett, Senior Landscape Architect, Stith & Design, Inc. LA for Columbia Residential, Affordable Housing developer and management company Green Building and Infrastructure: o Shelby Buso, Director, Market Transformation & Development, US Green Building Council o Kathleen Kirkpatrick, LEED AP BD+C, SITES AP, EcoDistricts AP, Environmental Engineer Landscape Architects and Planners o Alfie Vick, Professor in Environmental Ethics at the University of Georgia.

Landscape architect, LEED Fellow. Past-Chair of the Sustainable Sites Technical Advisory Group for the US Green Building Council, Founding Chair of the Athens Branch of the US Green Building Council and is on the Board of Directors of the Athens Land Trust. Designed Serenbe Food Forest o Lauren Mandel, Andropogon, Landscape Architect & Integrative Researcher o Bryan Bays, Senior Principal and Director of Landscape Architecture, TSW Planners, Architects and Landscape Architects o Steve Sanchez, Principal, HGOR, LEED AP, focus on sustainable landscape, large corporate, institutional and campus environments. (MB Stadium) o Matt Cherry, Senior Associate specializing in urban design, planning and landscape architecture, Lord Aeck Sargent, president of Georgia Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architecture Architects o Joshua Gassman, Lord Aeck Sargent, Sustainable Design Director o Alissa Kingsley, Lord Aeck Sargent, Registered Architect, LEED AP Higher Education: o

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Peggy Bartlett, Emory, Anthropology Professor (and faculty leader in campus sustainability) o Jimmy Powell, Emory, Director of Engineering, External Services, Grounds o Anne Rogers, Georgia Tech, Assoc. Director Office of Sustainability o Jerry Young, Georgia Tech, Landscape Project Manager o Steve Place, Georgia Tech, Horticulturist o Susan Kidd, Agnes Scott, Director of Sustainability o Lois Sword, Agnes Scott, manager of Organic Demonstration Garden Permaculture: o Brandy Hall, Founder & Design Director, SITES AP, Shades of Green Permaculture (sustainable landscape design and installation) o Lindsay Mann, Founder & Lead Designer, Sustenance Design, (ecological landscape planning and design and implementation), designed The Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill Activists, Advocates, Allies, Consultants: o Susan Pavlin, Pavlin Consulting: Creative and Sustainable Economic Development, Founding Director of Common Market Georgia, Co-Founder and Founding Director, Global Growers Network o Robby Astrove, Arborist and Environmental Educator, ALFI Orchard Project Coordinator, Preserve Manager Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve o Kimberly Coburn, The Homestead Atlanta, Founder o Jamie Rosenthal, Roots Down Consulting, Director (services to develop ecologically sound, community based landscapes) o Cory Mosser, Natural Born Tillers, Founder o Greg Levine, Trees Atlanta, Co-Executive Director and Chief Program Officer o Mike McCord, Trees Atlanta, Browns Mill Food Forest Coordinator o William Sellars, Foodwell Alliance, Deputy Director o Judy Yi, Trees Atlanta, Director of Education o Christina Gibson, Trees Atlanta, Education Coordinator o Tenisio Seanima, Georgia Organics Farmer Services Coordinator o Christa Leonard, Community Farm Manager, Greenleaf Management, LLC o Emily Cumbie-Drake, Georgia Organics Director of Programs City of Atlanta and Related: o Mario Cambardella, Urban Agriculture Director, Office of Resilience, City of Atlana o Elizabeth Beake, Sustainability and Food Systems Planner, Office of Resilience, City of Atlanta o Allison Duncan, Principal Planner, Atlanta Regional Commission o Kevin Burke, Principal Landscape Architect, Atlanta Beltline, Inc. Whole Foods: o Jeri Bice, Regional Buyer for Floral and Garden o Heather Hall, Regional Produce and Floral/Garden Coordinator Organic Urban Farmers and Growers: o Mike Cunningham, Country Gardens Farm o Nuri Icgoren, Urban Sprouts Farm o Chris Luther, Rhonda’s Blueberries Farm o Daniel Parson, Oxford Organic Farm o Joe Reynolds, Love is Love Farm o

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o Kirsten Simmons, Ecosystem Farm o Karen Smith, Southern Native Plantings, Owner o Asa Ysrael, Atlanta Harvest Farm Nursery Industry: o Kristen Landfield Howe, Alex Smith Garden Design, Garden Design and Installation o Greg Ison, Ison’s Nursery (retail and wholesale), Owner o Dave Smith, Saul Nurseries (wholesale) o Kacey Cloues, Gardenhood Nursery (retail), Owner

Appendix 2: Edible Landscape Plant Sources The list is not exhaustive but is a compilation of the sources used or mentioned by those interviewed for this report. The most commonly used edible landscape plants are grown locally and widely available.

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Saul's (Atlanta) - Large grower and wholesale and re-wholesale nursery locally owned, sell mostly what they grow, no trees grow and sell lemons, papayas, raspberries, some blueberries blueberries mostly re-wholesale from Flowerwood, a large, 3rd generation wholesale grower and nursery, regional with Georgia location in Cairo o Bottoms Nursery: 60 miles south of Atlanta grows berries, vines and fruit trees rarely spray large family owned, local, sells to contractor trade and direct to consumer as well o Ison's: 40 miles south of Atlanta, family owned 65% mail order retail, 35% is commercial growers to grow plants out for revenue and also wholesale to other nurseries who will resell Grow about half of their inventory and bring in other inventory to resell Sells wide variety of fruit trees, shrubs and vines. Specializes in muscadine Rarely sprays; supplier to ALFI Fruit Tree Sale o Willis Orchards (Cartersville) o Maple Valley (near Birmingham) - David Shadix family owned, smaller grower great quality, good practices, fruiting trees, vines, shrubs o Nature's Tree Farm (Fayetteville)- tree grower, including serviceberries o Harp's (Fayetteville): local grower and wholesale nursery; blueberry grower o Wolfskin Growers - Athens, retail nursery grows chemical free blueberry plants o Southern Native Plants (Karen Smith), Sylvania, Georgia, organic nursery Grows a variety of fruit trees, shrubs and vines Supplier to ALFI Fruit Tree Sale o Bluegrass Blueberries, Tennessee not organic but good practices o Arborday Foundation: fruit trees o Hidden Springs Nursery, Cookeville, TN 20

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known for sustainable practices but small in scale o Useful Plants - Black Mountain, NC Family owned permaculture-based nursery Pesticide free Grows fruit trees and shrubs, nut trees, medicinal and permaculture plants o Finch Blueberry Nursery: Family nursery in Bailey, NC Retail and wholesale and mail order Wide variety of cultivars Sells liners and plants up to 5 years old o Cornelius Farms, Manor, GA 240 mi south of Atlanta Sells liners and 1 gallon plants; 3 gallon available for preorder; their market is the grower and perhaps some resale. Joe Reynolds buys from them Grower and producer. 200 acres of plants. Full service nursery with capability of producing 1 million plants per season (170K liners listed on website for spring 2019), fully licensed to propagate all varieties; sells both southern highbush and rabbiteye blueberries. o plantant.com: Online plant and nursery for locating wholesale plants by variety, size,price, location.

Widely used by landscape architects, contractors, re-wholesalers, nurseries.

Suppliers/vendors pay to be on the platform and so it is not comprehensive but is widely used. o Fruit tree growers used by Trees Atlanta (sourcing 2.5 - 3" caliper trees, grown by specialty tree nurseries) Bold Springs - wholesale tree grower in Hawkinsville, GA Summer Shade - Madison, GA tree and shrub grower Robert Jeff Jones , Wrens, GA - tree and shrub grower Hale and Hines, middle TN, specialize in growing large container grown trees (15, 30, 45 gallon) o Stovall - Large wholesale and re-wholesale nursery and plant procurer to landscape contractor trade; edible trees, woodies and vines o Site One- National landscape supply and plant procurement company with 15 Georgia locations

Appendix 3: Recent Sales Trends and Variety Demand in the Consumer Market Trend: Retail and wholesale sales of edible landscape plants remain steady but have plateaued in recent years for Ison’s Nursery (wholesale and retail), Saul Nurseries (wholesale), Gardenhood Nursery (retail), ALFI Fruit Tree Sale and Trees Atlanta tree sale.

ALFI Fruit Tree Sale: 2017 and 2018 combined totals Sales of the most popular varieties of fruit trees, berries and vines during the last two years: o o

o

Blueberries - 435 Berry vines  Blackberries - 220  Raspberries - 220 Apple trees - 280 21

o o o o o

Fig trees - 175 Asian pears - 110 Muscadine vines - 95 Serviceberries - 90 Pomegranates - 65

The Orchard Project and Robby Astrove Robby Astrove typically buys 250 trees and 50 shrubs per year, spread across a variety of projects, including the Orchard Project. Serviceberries, chickasaw plums, pear trees, fig trees, blueberries make up the majority of his orders. His orders are placed when a project comes up, and he needs immediate availability.

Trees Atlanta Trees Atlanta sells edible landscape plants as a part of its annual tree sale to consumers each year. Plants sold are blueberries, Chickasaw and American plum trees, pawpaw trees, fig trees, native and Asian persimmon trees, and Chinese chestnut trees.

Garden Hood: A well regarded Atlanta retail nursery. Edible landscape plants sourced from growers within 100 miles. Recent sales trends: o o o o o o

Blueberries are the best sellers and about ten cultivars are offered Figs sell almost as well as blueberries Serviceberry tree demand is growing Persimmons trees mostly Asian variety and a few native Muscadines, raspberries and blackberries sell but are less popular Other fruit trees do not sell well as Atlanta climate not conducive without spraying

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