Isometric view of a portion of Design Iteration 1 and a Proximity Matrix showing what spaces should be next to each otherReconfiguring Small Farmlands: Contemporary Landscape Design Iterations for Small-Scale Farms in Pennsylvania
In a period of ecological awareness, there have been increasing calls for agricultural spaces to provide ecosystem services, which are defined as natural ecosystem processes that support life. According to the US Department of Agriculture, small-scale farms account for 91% of the total US farms but do not contribute significantly to the overall agricultural market, with large industrial farms taking up 85% of the total agricultural production. Given the sheer number of small farms in the United States, there is a high potential to challenge the existing food production paradigm that industrial farms dominate. Landscape heterogeneity in agricultural spaces is known to be beneficial for farmlands because such heterogeneity enhances the local biodiversity, which can then help suppress natural enemies like pests in the area. While unconventional, natural landscape features like native plant communities and adjacent natural zones should be integrated into farmlands because they can have ecological benefits such as minimizing the use of chemicals and nitrogen fertilizers, providing habitats for pollinators, suppressing pests, and supporting food production. With thoughtful landscape design and concepts of agroecology, my capstone aims to produce farmland design iterations that could enhance the relationship between farmlands and the natural environment and ultimately serve as a model of food production that can be applied to small-scale farms in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States.
Isometric view of a portion of Design Iteration 1 and a Proximity Matrix showing what spaces should be next to each other