Urban Farming in Agritopia

Saturday, September 6, 2008 by Dana.

Agritopia… somebody’s “clever” idea of an agricultural utopia in the middle of Disturbia.  Agritopia is located in the city of Gilbert, which is a suburb of the Phoenix Metro area near where I live.  Since Gilbert was recently ranked in the top 30 of the best small cities to live, a concept like Agritopia is not a surprise.  The website states that “the Agritopia Project is an effort to design and build a neighborly community around an urban farm.”  While the website is very outdated, you get the idea… so… some quaint houses in a nice neighborhood of single family homes, right?

Well, enough about the homes… let’s talk about the agriculture. It turns out that some enterprising people started a farm inside one of the quaint houses.  However, this farm was raising a bumper crop of 800 marijuana plants with a street value of $2 million.  To heck with having a cool home theater system… this urban farm boasted $100,000 in indoor “farming” equipment.

What brought them down?  Neighbors smelled “gas” and alerted the officials.  So any strange smells in your neighborhood?

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