Keeling Curve

Project Summary / Description:

Top Leaf Farms was born from the insight of ecological farming within the urban fabric of the San Francisco Bay in Central California. Through an intimate understanding of nature's complexity of design at a eco-systemic scale, we apply these efficiencies within a scale of production that has impact to disrupt the current one. Our project builds on the work of the regenerative farming and urban agriculture movements which emphasize the value of nutrient cycles within soils. The soil is a pump of atmospheric gases that serve as the thin layer of skin across the earth‚ land mass. It is a vital metaphor for our generation to understand. If we cut our own skin time and again we bleed and scar. This is what is happening to our own earth. The cultural pattern of extraction has maxed out the earth‚ wealth of natural resources. Regenerative land stewardship practices are the salve to these wounds on the earth and it is imperative that we build resilient urban soils, wherever and however possible. Through a well-funded and cooperatively-imagined urban farming system, we can continue to rebuild our urban ecologies in service to all. It is our belief that this is the most important work of our time: to sequester atmospheric carbon in living soils (wherever possible) and to build living, productive, and beautiful food systems, right where people live.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

The sector of our society that relies on oil is vast. The agricultural component is a large part of that based on it's industrial adaptation and "get big or get out" mentality. Today we have mage farms, for mega stores and mega cities. The resources to build and maintain such systems have a certain efficiency at scale, yet the environment has had to take the waste streams and the arrogance of industrial farming through it's colonized mentality of dominance over the natural world. Our project approaches the situation as one that needs to shift fundamentally in the way we value food and the ecological services nature provides. A key is in the soil and the engineered medium we have created to turn the building into a living systems with the urban landscape. The functions our roofs perform help with stormwater management, reduction of the heat island effect. incredible pollinator and bird habitat, building performance and food for the people living in the building and local chefs. Our farms are small scale, worked by hand and renewable energy. Food doesn‚ t travel more than 3 miles in radius and thus we are not being dependent on fossil fuels to grow, harvest and deliver. Our soils also use a activated bio-char that locks up carbon for 80-100 years and allows a shift of carbon in the atmosphere into soil at a rate of 15% of the total volume of soil we install, use and manage.

Mission Statement:

Top Leaf Farms designs, builds and operates highly productive organic farming systems on urban rooftops for commercial production. We grow food in the city where people actually live which reduces the time and distance our food must travel and creates ultra fresh and hyper-local produce. We are providing and building viable ecological urban farms that provide food at a scale that has impact and is working towards nature‚ efficiency. Some of these solutions will help mitigate the current climate change that is in effect and for people to witness these systems in action also help shift our culture conciseness to one that re-engages with nature. ¬†We design/build and support these larger scale rooftop farms for on-going successful operation through a worker-owned cooperative. Our key is vast knowledge of ecological farming which is translated into innovative, functional and efficient irrigation systems, soil fertility management and selecting the right plant cultivars and operation plan for the specific micro-climate and client. 
For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than outside of them. It is our goal to build a robust model for urban agriculture production that is economically and ecologically innovative in order to help guide urban planning and development in the creation and vast re-design of more livable, and resilient cities for these dynamic shifting times we are currently living in.

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