Fox Point Farms: Mixed-Use Agrihood
Integrating agriculture, community, and mixed-use development in an urban agrihood.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Fox Point Farms is a mixed-use agrihood in Encinitas, California, bringing together farming, housing, food, hospitality, and community connection.
The project integrates agriculture into the everyday experience of a contemporary neighborhood, connecting the farm with places to live, eat, gather, and spend time outdoors.
Farmer D & Co supported the early visioning, farm strategy, agrihood framework, and community programming concepts, helping establish agriculture as a defining feature of the development.
THE VISION
The vision for Fox Point Farms was to make farming part of everyday community life.
The goal was to create a place where agriculture, food, housing, and hospitality could reinforce one another. The farm could provide a connection to local food while creating opportunities for learning, gathering, wellness, and stewardship.
Within that vision, agriculture would help shape both the identity of the neighborhood and the experiences of residents and visitors.
Key questions included:
How could the project communicate the value of an agrihood to stakeholders and the surrounding community?
How should the farm relate to the broader development?
What scale and type of farm could serve the project?
How could food, hospitality, community programming, and open space reinforce each other?
What would make the agricultural component authentic, operationally viable, and meaningful to residents and visitors?
THE CHALLENGE
Integrating a working farm into a mixed-use development requires a clear relationship between vision, design, and operations. good site and a strong mission.
Early planning needed to determine the appropriate scale and type of farm, how it would relate to the broader development, and how food, hospitality, open space, and community programming could work together.
The challenge was to create an agricultural component that would be authentic, operationally viable, and meaningful to the people who would live in and visit the community.
OUR APPROACH
Farmer D & Co helped shape the agricultural and community stewardship vision through early strategy, programming concepts, and advisory support.
The work included developing the agrihood framework, exploring connections between farming and community experiences, considering early operating models, and supporting the project’s public-facing narrative.
The approach positioned the farm as a central organizing element of the development. Farm strategy was considered alongside food, landscape, education, hospitality, and gathering, helping establish a shared framework for how agriculture could contribute to the project over time.
THE OUTCOME
Fox Point Farms brings the agrihood concept into a contemporary coastal setting, combining housing, farming, food, hospitality, and open space.
The project offers a tangible example of how agriculture can become part of a neighborhood’s character and daily experience. Its integrated model connects community life with the land and the food it produces.
Farmer D & Co’s contribution focused on the early vision and strategic framework supporting that model.
PROJECT IMPACT
Fox Point Farms demonstrates how agriculture can contribute to the identity and experience of a mixed-use community.
The project brings farming into relationship with housing, food, hospitality, and gathering spaces, creating opportunities for residents and visitors to connect with agriculture in everyday settings.
It also illustrates how developers can consider farmland as an active part of community life, with a role in shaping a sense of place, supporting local food connections, and encouraging awareness of land stewardship.
THAT THIS PROJECT TEACHES
Fox Point Farms offers several lessons for future agrihood and farm-based development projects:
- A farm can be more than a place of production.
When designed with intention, a farm can become a classroom, gathering place, food access point, and community hub.
- Agriculture should help shape the project from the beginning.
Early farm strategy can inform a development’s identity, programming, and relationship to the land.
- A compelling vision needs an operating framework.
Farm scale, production, staffing, and programming need to be considered alongside the broader development plan.
- Farm, food, and hospitality can reinforce one another.
Planning these elements together can create a more connected experience for residents and visitors.
- A shared narrative helps communicate the value of an agrihood.
Clearly explaining the farm’s purpose helps stakeholders understand its role in the community.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Farmer D & Co helped us see what Fox Point Farms could become as an agrihood. Their work supported the vision, advocacy, and master planning for the project, while bringing deep insight into how the farm, market, restaurant, and related enterprises could come together as the heart of the community.”
— Brian Grover, Founder, Nolen Communities
Fox Point Farms reflects a central belief behind Farmer D & Co’s work: healthy places begin when people are reconnected to land, food, and one another.
By bringing agriculture into the fabric of a mixed-use neighborhood, the project demonstrates how farming can help shape places where people live, gather, and connect.
