Think about where and how you live. Close your eyes and picture your ideal neighbourhood. We bet it looks something like this: a walkable neighbourhood designed around a fully functional farm, with different types of houses built from healthy, non-toxic, natural materials, multifamily, aging-proof, small but not too small, with plenty of privacy, and affordable. The neighbourhood is designed for meeting your neighbours, hence the word neighbourhood. Cars are confined to a designated area, and most importantly, there are lots of free-ranging kids and chickens.
But wait, isn’t this an agriculture and food podcast? Why are we talking about real estate? Because so much agricultural land is being swallowed up by “development”. Cities are expanding, often building super ugly, incredibly toxic suburban homes on that land with big gates and big cars parked in driveways or garages, and kids who never go outside.
At the same time, real estate is very good at raising money and investing it, often without taking negative externalities into account. So, what can we learn, and how can we use the highly developed real estate capital markets to build agrihoods and thriving regenerative farms, enabled by well-planned, healthy neighbourhoods? And yes, we can achieve market-rate returns.
Happy to welcome on the podcast Neal Collins, founder of Hamlet Capital on a mission is to create more agrihood and conservation communities, serving a largely untapped yet growing demand for these unique living environments.
We map how real estate can bankroll regenerative agriculture without asking farms to carry the financial load. Neil traces his path from NGO work and urban infill projects to creating place-based, village-scale communities where 70 percent or more of the land remains in agriculture and open space. We unpack the three big capital phases: entitlements, horizontal infrastructure, and vertical construction, and why shifting from IRR obsession to net asset value per acre unlocks smarter, lower-friction deals. Investors will hear a familiar playbook with uncommon outcomes: market-rate returns, preserved farmland, workforce housing, and thriving local economies.
HOW DO WE WANT TO LIVE?
We go deep into what makes these places livable and investable: wastewater systems that close loops, zoning that allows mixed housing types, and street design that prioritizes people over parking. Neil shares two live projects: a compact site near Austin and a larger landscape outside Pittsburgh, showing how clustered homes, village centers, and diverse farm operations create daily value.
In discussing the flaws of conventional suburban development, Neal contrasts the isolation of car-centric design with the kind of community-orientated living people are increasingly craving.
“For a lot of people, we’re living in these systems that were designed for cars in isolation rather than for togetherness. And I think that’s the real sparkle for me, you know, we can actually create these kinds of places that people are really desiring, that integrate agriculture and community and resilience.” Neal Collins
FREE-RANGE KIDS
Thoughtful community design moves away from car-dominated streets, creates an environment where children can have more independence and interact with their surroundings.
“Actually, encouraging spaces for people to be neighbours. And what that looks like is creating places where there’s actually going to be spontaneous interaction amongst people so that they can say hi. And you can have kids that are able to be more free-range.” Neal Collins
REMOTE WORK ENABLES THIS
The rise of remote work removes a major barrier to living in these more rural or peri-urban communities, changing the fundamental question about commuting.
“And with the rise of remote work, I think all of a sudden the big questions are about, well, gosh, these people just have to get downtown into an office building, and you’re just going to be creating more traffic. I think we’re starting to phase out of that.” Neal Collins
REGENERATIVE REAL ESTATE IS A TROJAN HORSE FOR REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Using the familiar and profitable framework of real estate development can be a powerful vehicle to fund and scale regenerative agriculture, without relying on concessionary capital.
“So, in some regard, it’s a Trojan horse into regenerative agriculture to say, ‘Look, we can create value in alpha, in this type of real estate vehicle with the impact going towards these themes of regenerative agriculture, water, soil, rural economic development, affordable housing…” Neal Collins
TOXIC HOUSES
We also explore healthy building materials—mass timber, hemp-lime, straw-based panels—and how regional agriculture can supply a lower-toxicity construction ecosystem that sequesters carbon and improves indoor air.
There is a stark parallel between the chemical-laden conventional food system and the equally unhealthy built environment and how modern homes are filled with harmful materials.
“Because once you can come to that realisation that we couldn’t have designed a more toxic built environment than what we have right now, if you really had to sit down and think about that, how do we put as many chemicals and fire retardants into our homes as possible? That’s what we’ve done. It’s the same as what we’ve done with our food.” Neal Collins
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Neal also talked about:
- farm actual part of the community remote work enables this
- thriving agrihood communities with smaller units
- regen real estate can enable regen transitions
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.