decomposing the grid

Ophelia Wilkins
B.A. Hispanic Studies and Computer Science
Brown Lniversity, 2001

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology : February 2007

Author:
Opheli Wilkins: 18 Februar'2007

Certified by:
Ari na m D

PauI h&p

S IN
MASSACHU
OFTECHNOLOGY

FEB 2 6 2007

ss

rsky

rofes

hr
it ecture

M achado and Silvetti Associates

Accepted by:
Yung Ho Chang : Pro~ssor of Architecture
Chair of the Department Committee on Graduate Students

LIBRARIES
ARCHIVES

@ 2007 Ophelia Wilkins. All rights reserved.

The author hereby grants MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of
this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created.

Thesis Advisors:

Thesis Readers:

Arindam [Dutta : Associate Professor

Department of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Doroth6e Imbert : Associate Professor

Department of Landscape Architecture
Harvard Graduate School of Design

Paul Schlapobersky : Associate

Machado and Silvetti Associates

Leo Marx : Senior Lecturer, Professor Emeritus

Program in Science, Technology and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chris Muskopf : Associate
Stoss Landscape Urbanism
MIT MArch 2004

"~~

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decomposing the grid

Opheli W ilkins

ABSTRACT:

The American landscape chronicles the dreams of an agricultural nation through a series of regular lines enscribed on a flat plane.
Each 6 mile x 6 mile square frames a lose-lose situation in which government subsidies encourage intensive
monocultural production resulting in loss of topsoil, biodiversity and population while contaminating the ground
with chemicals and glutting global commodity markets.
Current "advances" in agricultural research demonstrate that age-old technologies - small scale rotational systems - properly managed, can multiply productivity while rehabilitating soils, retaining moisture and reducing
or eliminating chemical applications.
At a fragile moment in history when only 2% of the population produces the agriculture which supports the
other 98%, this thesis proposes an alternative to the current agro-political landscape in which rational lines no
longer suffice to measure a rotational landscape.

Thesis Supervisors:

Arindam Dutta : Associate Professor

MIT Department of Architecture
Paul Schlapobersky : Associate
Machado and Silvetti Associates
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on 18 February 2007 in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arch tecture.

~rlr~

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PARABLE of the LAST FARMER

Before, it used to be, your neighbor a mile and a half down the road was dependent on you to help with the thrashing and
silo filling and all that sort of thing. But now there's getting lo be so few of us left. The way things are going now, I foresee
the day when there's one farmer on the east side of the Mississippi and one on the west side.They'll be plowing and they'll
meet at the river. There'll be a discussion, and shortly theredfter, there'll be one hell of a tiling project [Ito drain the riverd and
then there'll only be one farmer. And then he'll be the only one arouno, and he'll have trouble with 1his tractor on the way
back, and he'll get stuck. He wori't have anybody to fix it, arid he'll be in worse shape than when he had a neighbor.
Virgil Thompson's story in Debt adtDisposession by Kathryn Marine Dudley

ACKNOWLEDG EMENTS
Swould like to express my deepest gratlet'

to my family and my family of friends for their uncon

ritional trust and patien-re over the last fo years.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and inspiration:

Ann Pendleton-Jullian
The staff at the Dickinson Research Extension Center in Dickinson, ND
Frank Kutka - Assistant Director, Sustainable Ag Specialist
Llewellyn Manske, PhD :Range Scientist
Pat Carr, PhD :Associate Acronomist

Roger Ashley : Extension Agronomist

Bill Klein : Ashley extension agent

Julie Hetteger : Adams extension agent

Duane and Chantra Boehnm in Richardtlon, ND
Marlow and Sandy Werth and Henry in Lehr, ND
Robert McDonald : -ecturer in Landscape Ecology at the GSD
Bike6-Aid

Especially:
Katie 7heoharides for spouting a bottrn-; knowledge of ecology ind doing my laundry.
Stephen Perduie for help wthen I )eeddi iwost.
t
Marcus Lund for providing the rnragic link, Ind a random house in D,:ikinson.
Kate James for everything.

LAND LOST :The A mer;can West

Intrcdulction
The Grid Matrix of F ira
The Grid :Revised
Thesis Questior,
SITE : The New Frontier
TECHNOLOGIES : Manipulating Nature
U.S. Agriculture
Agriculture Basics
Proposal 1 :Rotatidn
Proposal 2 Buffer
PROGRAM : New Iioneers and GMOs
LAND REGAINED
Scales of Drift
Site Plans and Phasing
Conclusion

APPENDIX
,Ar\icuiltlure Matrix
Bibliography

Image Credit

mrovie still
f ori "Northern Ligits"
dirrected hy ot Nlillsion

LAND

LOST

The American West

L/andsca)e /s1)t
1
sce -Iery it /i not ci ))!/tIca II it,
It I::;rea/ll/, I(C n7oe than a -o/ffIllction,7 a s'ystem of
mO,:ln-/-nad~e sp73aces on the Su(rfac
of t( , e~-Jrth ..
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evwey lanrdscape Is tple place whe/e wet establish
oul,

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ands/(iaipe

LANDSCAPE

primal.
complete subjugation to
seasonal cycles.

LANDSCAPE
heterogeneous.
temporary, shifting community
relationships.

LANDSCAPE

homogenous.
bounded.
complete control over nature.

VVhen we see how we have succeeded in imposing oir own rhythm on natur(e in the agricultural landscape,
how we have altered the life cycle of plants and animal'; and even transposed tihe seasons, we become aware
of how dangerous a role we have assumed, and .. the -alvation of Landscape 3 depends on our relinquishing
this power to alter the flow of time and on oujr rett inin to a more natural order. But the new ordering of time
shotuld affect not only nature, [butj ourselves. It promnunes us a new kind of history, a new, more responsive
social order, and ultimately a new landscape.
J!P,. ,A)ikson, Discovening the lkn-aculat Landscape. p. 157.

LANDSCAPE

INTRODUCTION
This thesis investigates the vast and vacant landscapes of the American West.

Image Credits:
"Field Fire"
Columbia area, SC

from Taking Measures

by James Corner
Knife River Earth Lodges, ND
http://www.condition.org/smi552.
jpg
"The Survey Landscape"
Castleton, ND

from Taking Measures

by James Corner

Once a land of promise for agricultural prosperity, the settlement of the frontier structured its own demise.
As the transcontinental railroad increased connectivity between products and markets, boomtowns cropped
up along the route. The introduction of mechanized farming caused these same towns to become obsolete
as soon as they were built, with more land operated by fewer people.
Today the older generation is passing on, while children move to the cities, non-corporate farms cannot survive, and monocultural food production leaves the land to waste. Consequently, a new frontier of abandoned
farm land has emerged.
From the earliest days of European settlement, land in the West has been formed by mechanisms linking it
to technology and markets. This project proposes new strategies for settlement and agricultural production
in these western wastelands, catalyzed by a reconfiguration of the Jeffersonian grid according to the technological demands of today.
Ironically, settlementanb depopuilation resulted from the same schizophrenic american mentality. A romantic
desire to inhabit nature was made possible by exerting absolute control over nature through agriculture.

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THE GRID

This viscious cycle was initiated in 1785 when Thomas Jefferson parcelized unsettled U.S. territory into a 6
mile by 6 mile township grid. Of the belief that "American success would stem from a strong and plentiful
agriculture,"'' his primary objective was to make land available efficiently and democratically to individuals for
agricultural use.2
The agricultural practices which take place within these perfect squares override the natural potential of the
land with the latest technologies, in order to maximize crop yield for financial gain. These practices have
caused irreparable environmental devastation in the form of widespread loss of biodiversity and depletion of
soil nutrients, leaving the ground and water embedded with chemicals.

Image Credits:
movie still from "Northern Lights"
by Rob Nillson
residents of St. Regis,. MN
photographed by
Debra Edrozo, July 2003

U.S. agricultural policy perpetuates this system by paying direct subsidies for specific crops - a minimum
price for a crop regardless of global demand. A household income dependent on subsidies, however, falls
short of minimum wage, such that farm consolidation has led tc widespread loss of family farms.
Within this system, both financial and social "value" are measured by quantity of land owned, and purity of
crop yield. The static land forms created by the grid make these values easy to quantify and evaluate by eye.
Here, market forces influence interpersonal relationships,$ and the landscape is politicized and privatized as
far as the eye can see.

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tiavel People will .vokc in the fields, and live A

Can we b uild a co m.p uter that skins a deer?

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f::Fetlit, g as ._ Omere who wet t

ses t.hat this fasci,.l.ation people have i-n bea.mtr

F't
atrie is r,onY in so nanYt ays. And usua;lly;
ihen he ha1s never act1ually lived in a m.Ual a-ea.
busrl ess being cOtC I.-ntr;ated in mtuetropolitant alea

1. Nearest Starbucks -- 50 miles.

2 How v.,ill
yotlur sa;lesforce feel about drivilg 5
on a natioalt'mntetnational flight.? Conip anly tine a
imamit;am ; j:
t nrate ai Isthip, p lane wand pilot.

Last time I 1.jas in North Dakot.

my town ho

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where do.You think nteth is nmale2

,:hilmingan~t dlitv;ng, ..e c ould t.,ouch buh:
lieis

at

of thtig
Enjoy.

I work in the tech field in rural USA by Eltori 1979 on? Atutday January 21,
)07?2 5M
I've been a systen arminti for a ctoim pany f- 2 .ats ino. Wre do a lot
-f ouit.s-ut cing for , mp anies. I cutrerntly nt-anage :.nd tmaiantaimi ill o f out websererms
;and we havse,sotetLanig like 2'00+ websites. W"e ave tine;aly di e4 ptrloyees now and

we.ju.st did a little over 3 innlion dollars in .sales this year.

Rural ,tmlnt

cda outsoutrine is a oood ildea. We're

,
not a bunch of

Image and Text Credits:

text: http://www.slashdot.org

Two conflicting ideologies typify American atAmerican Ideal[s] :Conflicting Ideologies of Space
titudes towards settlement: progressivism, characterized by an "uncritical commitment to technological
progress," and pastoralism which seeks "greater harmony between the man-made and the natural."3

by James Corner

In his "Notes on Virginia":' Thomas Jefferson describes his belief "that farmers represented the highest
virtue and nobility among Americans."4 "In conceiving of the National Land Survey, Jefferson was most
concerned with making land available, efficiently and equitably, for purchase and ownership by individuals."5 However, without recognizing the variance inherent in each plot, he ultimately devised a progressivist
implementation of his pastoral ideals, establishing an enduring framework of conflict and inequity.

"Navajo Spring-Line Fields"

Tuba City, AZ : [Landscape 1]
from Taking Measures
by James Corner

Jefferson's ideal subsequently became government policy. In the most literal sense, "agriculture was one
of the first productive activities to acquire departmental status in the federal government in 1862." Government actions such as the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted 160 acres of land to any head-of-household over the age of 21, perpetuated the "rationalization of agriculture." 6

"RailroadsAcross the Survey Landscape"

e ,Amrican ideology of space: "on the one hand, Isomel give the
This irony poses a pervasive cronflic)
highest 0priorit toeormi' ro
o economic critera, [w'hile others are] committedto less tangbble
political, aesthetic, moral:, environmental, or "quality of life" criteria in selecting social policies."7

"Walpi"
Hopi Indian Reservation, AZ
[Landscape 11

from Taking Measures

Castleton, ND [Landscape 2]
from Taking Measures

by James Corner

...
the nation's overall direction in its treatment of space has been set by the dominant utilitarian ideology of piogress, with
such of its associated tenets as. the maximizing of economic giowth; trust in the operation of the market; the commodification of land; the individualist ideal of "success" markedt by uipward social miobility and ownership of a detached single
family home. As a nation, therefore, we have followed a zijzagging co ruse in that progressive direclion, with the partially
opposed pastoral ideal causing mnany of the deflections froui a straight course. .. But the fact is that the pastoral conception
of American space has not issued iri
a genuine alternative to the dominriant ideology, and proiably never will, for it rests on
too many of the same fundamental assumptions.
Leo Marx in The American Ideology of Space. p. 21.

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Agricultural Policy :Inefficient and Ineffectual

Three primary forces contribute to current agricultural

politics: subsidies, global trade (i.e., exports, foreign aid and embargos), and the rise of trans-national corporations. All follow Jefferson's lead of attributing "value" to quantity of acreage and total output, rather
than quality or suitability of land.

wheat in Richardton. ND

The U.S., has historically adopted "deliberate policies [to protect] domestic producers." Subsidies were
introduced in order to guarantee farmers a minimum return on specific crops regardless of market rates.
But the result is that U.S. growers eagerly adopt technological advances to maximize production and profit
without considering long term implications for society, the environment and productivity, while "dumping
heavily subsidized grain surpluses on world markets."8

planting season
from Fatal Harvest
by Andrew Kimbrell

The influence of trans-national corporations has made independent production virtually obsolete, subjugating producers to "a highly integrated system characterized by either contract or corporate production" in
which the grower must, by contract, reach certain levels of produaction. 9

WheatSupply
from The Penguin Atlas of Food
by Erik Millstone and Tim Lang

An ideological faith in efficient ma

uction has led to worldwide surpluses of food, with 356 kg/person
of grain being produc6d achi. Among grain producing cuntries, the U.S. produces the most grain per
person at 1,156 kg.10

Image Credits:

Disenfranchisement : the Politics of Monotony

The pioneering spirit of individualism and self-sufficiency,

which first attracted earlier generations to the lifestyle of family farming, initally allowed families to adopt, adapt
to and resist change. But they ultimately encountered the "fundamental inability to resist - and tacit collusion
with - the forces that threatened to destroy [them]."" For example, in communities where each family represents a business enterprise, the success of one means the demise of one's neighbor, and "the loss of the farm
... is a loss of one's place in the world."12
While neighbors compete with neighbors, the U.S. exerts its power over the rest of the world, by imposing
embargos which cut food supplies to protest human rights violations, causing a human rights crisis at home. 13

Image Credits:
"Segmernted Field"

Teton River, MT
from Taking Measures

by .James Corner

Isolation is constantly reinforced by the frailty of social bonds in a market economy and the physicality of the
country.14The harsh climate and vast distances necessitate the nsularity of the automobile, and passive, oneway communication becomes the only connection to urban centers and global markets which exert powerful
control over the rural condition.
Although family farms as previously structured will be lost forever, life in the rural west is far from obsolete.
Among other "new pioneers," remnants of former communities are preserving their lasting ties to their hometowns, and company towns are forming where corporations choose to relocate workers in order to lower
operating costs.

THE

GRID

: REVISED

Jefferson's grid was a pure idea imposed absolutely on the land. It left no gaps, and today remains inevitable
and inescapable. It manifests itself as roads, fences and property lines - as barely-visible boundaries which prevent humans from actually setting foot on the land which surrounds them. The economic and political systems
which exploited it will undoubtedly persist until no one is left to perpetuate them.
Nevertheless, those who have left the Great Plains often describe a magnetic force - an emotional, psychological and physical attraction - which pulls them inevitably back to the land. If the force of the land far exceeds that
of the human will, then it must also harbor the potential to override the system it has submitted to.
This thesis asserts a series of proposals and a collection of devices which identify and exploit loopholes in the
grid in order to decompose it from the inside out, and establish a sustainable relationship between the land
and its inhabitants.

FRONTIER

grid

subdivision

consolidation

NEW
FRONTIER

THESIS

QUESTION

Leo Marx asks "Can there be any doubt that the prevailing American ideology of space has done more to shape
the national terrain than the ideas and practices of our most gifted architects, landscape architects, and planners?" 15 But Jefferson himself was an architect.
In what way, then, can a contemporary architect engage in the problem of the grid?
The greatest obstacle to understanding this question is that architectural practice is typically structured around
an Urban paradigm of an economy of land in service of a density of people, rather than a Rural paradigm of
an economy of social capital in charge of vast tracts of land. It is focussed so intently on designing boutique
machines for living that it has forgotten about the machines in which we live - the rural mechanisms which
construct our societies. I would also argue that these rural mechanisms are as embedded in urban centers as
urban structures are in rural societies.
One model of architectural thought that has reconceived architecture as a participant in a ubiquitous environment is the sustainable design discourse of William McDonough outlined in his book Cradle to Cradle. He
conceives of architecture as a catalytic mechanism embedded in a given environment which can give back
as much as it takes. It is, essentially, a living organism within an ecosystem, differentiated only by being one
of human design. Whether it behaves parasitically (as most buildings do) or symbiotically within this environment depends on the designer's ability to understand and therefore control this mechanism. "Just about every
process has its side effects. But they can be deliberate and sustaining instead of unintended and pernicious.
...What is the entire system - cultural, commercial, ecological - of which this made thing, and way of making
things, will be a part?" 16
The difference between this model and the question of the grid is of applying this idea not to a singular entity
but to a continuous system in an environment. The central investigation of this thesis is whether this attitude
can transfer to the scale of the territory. A number of current attitudes within landscape architecture redefine
landscape itself as a collection or system of interconnected mechanisms on the surface of the earth. For example, Alex Wall conceptualizes the urban settlement as one continuous surface populated with dynamic networks of activity, "the extensive and inclusive groundplane" which is not unlike a dynamic agricultural field."7

Indeed, architecture does not offer the tools necessary to solve the problems created by the grid. It is capable,
however, of understanding this artifact as a catalytic mechanism with tangible impacts on society and the environment.
Jefferson's primary shortcoming is that he only understood his system in the abstract, and the west as an
entirely blank slate. He did not treat the territory as a differentiated topography and geology inhabitated by a
diversity of established societies. As such, he neither forsaw the economic forces which would enter the scene
along with the settlers and exploit his system for their own gain, nor did he project how his "pure" system must
transform to the specific conditions of the land in order to acheive its desired effects.
Those economic forces essentially hijacked the system and became the rules, measures and operations according to which the system behaved. We can start to imagine instead an alternative system which is intentionally rather than accidentally structured around the requirements of a given technology.
In the Cradle to Cradle hypothesis, ecology is the operative mechanism, and one in which site conditions are
embedded in the rules. This thesis tests whether sustainable forms of agriculture can provide a model of a
technology in which humans settlement participates productively and symbiotically in an ecosystem.

PLANTING a NEW GRID

Even if we can't solve the host of problems initiated by the Jeffersonian grid in 1785, what type of seed could
we plant now that will proliferate in another two hundred years into a self-sufficient confluence of land and
society?
The following pages document my research into a range of agricultural solutions for the Northern Plains region.
While detrimental systems impose absolute control over natural systems, sustainable systems work with natural growth cycles in order to augment their productive potential.
In decomposing the Jeffersonian grid, sustainable forms of agriculture become the model for a new system
of inhabitation of the gridded landscape which enables the symbiotic coexsitence of ostensibly irreconcileable
"organisms:' or programmatic uses of the land.
Ultimately I will propose a new settlement strategy for the "New Frontier" of the Northern Plains which learns
from alternative methods of agricultural production which diversify soil, land use and society through the act
of rotation.

1.

Fitzgerald, Debonrah. " leclhnology and Agr iculture i 12(rt

2
ogv. Edited by Carroll Put sell. Oxford: Blackwvell.. pi 71

2.

Corner, larmes. Takintg Mleasures '.Acros:s the Amer icot

Landscape. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT : 1996.
p. 30.
Mar x, Leo. Jlte A'melcan Ideology, of Space: Lo/birking Paper #8, Cambridge : STS Program, 1989. p. 21.
Fitzgerald, Deborah. "Technology and Ag iculture in 2011hCentury America." in 4 Coompanion to American Technology. Edited by Carroll Ptirsell. Oxford: Blackvvwel. . 71

3.
4.
5

Century Armerrica" i n 4 Comtpanion to Arterican Technol

Corner, James. Takiog blMeasures Across the Ameolrcan L-ardscape. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT : 1996.
p. 30.

6.
7
8.

Fitzgerald, Deborah. "Technology and Ag icurlture in I(t ii Century Arnerica." In 4 Companionl to Anerican Techrology. Edited by Carroll Pursell. Oxford: Blrckwell. p. 7 1
Marx, Leo. The Amrelica,,r Ideology of Space. Ilobrkirg FlVCper #8, Cambridge : STS Program, 1989. p. 21.
Bonanno, Alessandro, Lawrence Busch, Willliam Frrilland, Lourdes Gouveia, and Enzo IMlingione, eds. Fromo Columobus to ConAgia: The Globalzation of Agrcult/ure aln,
192.

9
10.

Food . Iawrence, KS University Press of Kansas, 1994. p.

ibid, p. 34.
Milistonle, Frik and Lang, Tirm. The Penguin Atlas of I/ od: [4/ho eats what, i',here and ti hy. Penguin. Ni'ew Yor k

2003. p. 12.

11.

Neth, Mary. Prese ving the Famrly Far.

'lo",oen.
(amilrrninrty and the Fou
iwxest, 1900-1940. Johns Hopkins Univer;iAty Press. Baltir ore : 1995. p. 13.

12.

Dudley, Kathiryn Marie. Debt and Disposession F.arimr 1ss in Ameuica's Heeirtlrnd.Chicago, IL. Univer-sity of Chicago Press : 2000. p. 165.

13.

ibid, p. 34,

14.

ibid, p. 16.

15.

Marx. Leoo. lhe American Ideology of Spcace: i/vkinfg /I

aper #8, Carrmbridge : S I C; Progranm, 1989. p. 2 1.

16

McDorlough!,

17

VVall, Alex. "Programmring tire (U

Jrban Suiface"
turia I Press. P'i nceto., NJ : 1999. p. 233.

latirons of Agribrusiness rn the MnId

Williarm and Braungart, Michael. Crad,,l to Cradle. North Poi-r1 Press. Nev

iri

York : 2002. p. 81 -2.

Rco,ver ing Lawdscape. Janroes Corner, ed.; Princeton Arhiiec-

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Nowhere in the U.S. is the disappearance of farmincl as a viable lifestyle and

economic activity more evident than
in the Northern Plains where over 90%
of land is dedicated to agriculture, but
population is markedly on the decline.

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Acres of Farmland'
[% of land area inacres : 20021
LN RT

North Dakota has become the first of

the Northern Plains states to fall into
advanced decline. As its children flee in
droves from a life of isolation in a brutal
landscape, the state has no choice but
to change its ways, taking advantage of
new market opportunities, if it wants to
retain both population and agriculture.

DillN

Population over 65'

[% : 20041
A

CRITERIA
Population : % change 2000-2005

MT
3.7 9

Persons > 65: %, 2004

13.7%

American Indian Persons : %, 2004

6.4%7

[and Area : sq. miles. 2000

ND
I%)

145,552

Persons per Square Mile : 2000

Average farrf size : acres, 2000

2, 14

1,:006

SD

IA

National

2.8%

1.4%

5.3%

14.2%

14.7%

12.4%

8.6%

.3%

1.0 %

75,885

55,869

3,5371,28

9.9

52. 4

79.6

1,386

353

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i

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Low Market Value

A

Family-Owned Farms
:

1 -

-$

.9 .

Note: all sutb,:)

CRITERIA
Popilation
27

Divide
% change 2000-5

Persons > 65

%, 2004

McHenry

Foster

Stark

-5.91

-8.0%

-4.8',

-2.5 %

27.9,

21.8

21.4' .

16.3%
"

ult-k lt

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ialJltns based on maps and data fromr Mclntosh County.

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-9.9
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McIntosh
-11 1%

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35

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Map: Shows the endless section

grid overlayed on the geologic

and topographic
Mclntosh Couinty.

geology
The land in Mcintosh County, like most of North Dakota, was once the sea bed of a prehistoric ocean.The massive movement of glaciers 65 million years ago formed much of the landscape we see today, leaving behind
rich soil called "glacial till." The two primary geological structures in the state are Badlands west of the Missouri
and Glaciated soil to the east.'
McIntosh County lies along the Coteau Range of "pothole" hills - a continuous chain of mounds and valleys.
Along this range, rocks perpetually rise to the surface and must be cleared by farmers yearly. When water tables
rose in the 1990s, a network of underground aquifers made themselves known as they too rose to the surface,
flooding the pothole valleys. This event is just one moment in a roughly 50 year drought and flood cycle.2

conditions of

izt="

.......
....

topography

Climatic conditions are extreme. Located

roughly five miles from the 100th meridian, referred to as the "inflexible line of aridity," the
county experiences extreme droughts, with occassional floods. Summers are extremely hot,
and winters extremely cold with strong winds
unhindered by obstacles in the landscape.

Th,s dust-filled place... the ory place of kAcking

rocks dovwn gravel roads wtiou/,d he hard to reconcie agalnst this ne image of a hoigeoning green
lard teening,ivith oiideigro rd rivers, H-(adnit /
ulltamed th)ing /tumbl/ing bealways sensed ,Oso'e
neath ouLr feet?
Debra Marquart, The Horizonial World, p. 230.

All data and indicated maps on pp. 26-27 from:

hpttp://quick facts.ceisus .gov/q'fdi/states/46000. htiii
All of the data regarding Noith Dakota geology stated lere is common knovvledge in the area, repeated to me hy
multiple sources.
2.

Information about climatic conditions in Mcintosh County comes either from inter views with Bill Klein, the extension
agent in Ashley, ND or the book Tie Hollzontal lRoild hased in neighboring Locgan County.
Marquart. Debra. The Hlorzontal W/rld. Goi/tlrq up \iild i the middle of noowheire. Counterpoint. New York
2006.

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TECHNOLOGY
Manipulating Nature

/Iro,'y
is abo!t crnta I~c
tions tihat ( not resolve
into) /argtr ;holes, eve, dia/ecticai/y a!bott the
tersiso of Iholding iscomuipatitble t/lgjs together
bec::ause botrh or all are n ecessa y andltrue
Donna -Hairavway nr//c-, Cy bor

AMlaoftsto

de-population

prairie
potholes

prairie

re-population

twice-over
range

no-till ag

I -----

genetically
modified

monoculture

organic ag

-.

--...- -

-~

IDEAL 0

IDEAL 1

Primary Condition
return to wilderness

Pastoral Ideal
the "middle landscape"

[taxonom

of

idea

IDEAL 2
I Progressivist Ideal

I commitment to technology I

-C

-o
I

EXHAUSTED
SOIL

HEALTHY
SOIL

SEARCHING

for an AGRICULTURAL

IDEAL

Agriculture and settlement are the primary ways in which humans exert control over the environment in order
to survive. For every opinion that exists about how to re-settle the New Frontier, there exists a unique approach
towards agriculture. These opinions align with the American ideology of space previously outlined: or the constant tug-of-war between progressivist and pastoral ideals.
While some believe that the Great Plains was never suitable for agriculture and should be returned to its
"natural" state where buffalo can once again roam free, others at the opposite extreme attempt to override all
topographic and climatic obstacles to productivity through the genetic manipulation of organisms.
In reality, all variations of these ideals are inevitable and currently exist. Each is actively being played out in the
landscape, tensely co-existing with the others as counter-productive neighbors.
At left is a taxonomy of the range of agricultural options vying for dominance in the Northern Plains region. The
continuum measures the degree of control humans exert over natural cycles in each system, while indicating
that sustainable agricultural systems exist in which the health of the soil - based on criteria which I will detail in
this section - arguably exceeds that of the primary equilibrium condition.

49rumlr

AGRICULTURAL

DESTRUCTION

The adverse effects of the dominant system of agricultural production are substantial. Three pervasive problems repeatedly cited as being the greatest impacts of intensive monocropping are soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and of course the loss of family farms. 90% of U.S. cropland is losing soil at rates 17 times faster than
rates of formation, while the U.S. has lost 75% of its agricultural biodiversity in the last 100 years.'
An extreme increase in crop yield between roughly 1920 and 1980 correlated to a net decrease in rural population, with no substantial growth of cultivated acreage after WWII. Between 1920 to 1945, rural population
declined from 31.4 million to 2.3 million, whereas the average farm size increased from 143 to 191 acres. Soon
afterWWII, in 1956, the U.S. produced 84 million tons of corn whereas in 1980 it produced 224 million tons of
corn due to an increase in productivity given that there was no net increase in cultivated land during the same
period.2
In other words, the efficiencies introduced by automation initiated the consolidation of land into larger and
larger farms operated by fewer and fewer people. The loss of family farms began almost as soon as they were
established.
These three problems are, however, entirely interdependent, and simultaneously avoidable without loss of
productivity.
U .S.

60

AGRICULTURAL

POTENTIAL

As one source explains, the primary task of crop farming is soil management: "At the heart of farming is a complex quandary: you must cut into the earth to increase its productivity but at the same time, prevent the cut soil
from washing or blowing away."3
A number of tried-and-true solutions to this problem have been developed over the last 10,000 years - techniques such as farming where nature routinely deposits fresh nutrients (i.e. near river beds), slash-and-burn,
crop rotation, and fertilizing.4 In order to maximize immediate crop yields, however, intensive agriculture excludes basic soil erosion prevention strategies such as crop rotation and crop diversity in order to perpetuate
constant productivity.5
Furthermore, small farms arguably "produce more agricultural output per unit area than large farms." Below 27
acres, small farms can be up to ten times more productive than large farms, while farms less than four acres
can be up to 100 times more productive. 6 Currently, sustainable growing methods are indeed more common
amongst small to medium sized farms, and very rare amongst larger enterprises since outputs are often mixed
yields which are harder to quantify, catalog and market.
The following pages detail the full range of growing methods employed in the Northern Great Plains, and attempt to generalize the most sustainable mechanisms into a system of land use and inhabitation.

S.a

ltraie ytm i

FUNDAMENTAL MECHANISMS for SOIL HEALTH

[nutrient] cycling
"Plants are conduits pulling nutrients out of the air and directing them into living pathways and
into the soil. Alternatively, they pull nutrients from the soil and direct them toward life processes
and then out into the atmosphere."7 Chemical fertilizer should only be necessary when attempting
to artificially increase crop yield, and negatively impacts soil by interrupting the natural cycling of
nutrients and organisms.

[crop] rotation
A 10,000 year old technology of growing different crops on different fields each season in order
to promote biodiversity and fertility while discouraging pests and mitigating erosion. Rotation as
a standard practice was replaced by chemical inputs after WWII in conventional agricultural operations.8 As detailed in the following pages, rotation is the fundamental model behind all alternative
approaches to agricultural production, but also presents the greatest psychological barrier to entry
for the conventional farmer.'

sol

FIELD BUFFIERS

IZI
I_

helt

The primary motivation behind all major approaches to agriculture in the U.S. is profit. Profit margins are so slim regardless of the specific market that farmers have no choice but to optimize their
operations to the best of their ability. What derives different approaches towards agriculture, then,
is differing definitions of "optimize."
The two primary attitudes are to focus on increasing yield, or increasing soil performance.These two
methods can be distinguished by short term versus long term benefits. In the former, soil structure
and nutrients decline over time, but yearly crop yield is very high. In the latter, soil structure and nutrient content are maintained or improved, but management is complicated and costs are high.

Distance to Adjacent Field:"'

A. GMO : 90 ft
policy recommendation
B. Monoculture : 60 ft
typical natural boundary
C. No-Till : 60 ft

typical natural boundary

D) Organic : 90 ft
policy requirement

PRIMARY VARIABLES to SOIL PRODUCTIVITY

variable

practice

definition

impact
impact

Tillage

Tilling is the practice of cutting into the soil and turning

it over in order to kill and compost weeds

Tillage breaks down soil structure, preventing it from retaining water, making
it susceptible to erosion, and interrupting the propagation of soil decomposers which build nutritional organic matter.

Pesticide

Any agent applied to soil or crops which kills weeds,

pests or prevents the spread of disease

Synthetic inputs require huge quantities of energy to be manufactured. Although pesticides break apart relatively soon after application, they remain
harmful to many scavengers.

Fertilizer

Any agent applied to soil which adds nutrional value.

The primary fertility variables are Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium.

When excess fertilizer is applied to soil, or when poorly structured soil cannot retain it, it leaches into the ground water, and adversely impacts aquifer
ecosystems downstream.

Rotation

A method of growing different crops in different fields

over a period of time in order to diversify impacts on
or benefits to soil, promote cross-pollination between
adjacent fields, and prevent pests and weeds fronm taking hold.

When crops are not rotated, the same crop demands the same nutrients from
the soil season after season. These depleted nutrients must be replaced by
synthetic inputs. Furthermore, weeds and pests develop resistance over time
to applied pesticides, so that more pesticides must be used, or new ones
must be developed.

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Primary Variables: The basic factors every farmer has to control are fertility and pest management. Chemical inputs must be added to crops to encourage growth, but these inputs can be either "external" or "internal."
External inputs are toxic, petroleum-based synthetic chemical agents. Internal inputs are naturally occurring
chemical agents such as pollen from adjacent crops or manure.
Field Buffers:
Because of these conflicting approaches towards agriculture, field buffers - a physical space
between one field and one's neighbor - becomes necessary to prevent the spread of contaminants from one
field into another field. This is done by collecting or absorbing run-off from groundwater contaminants, or placing a windbreak to filter airborne contaminants.

'i

:~

NATIVE PRAIRIE

TWICE-OVER

RANGELAND

NO-TILL AGRICULTURE

Bas5ed rn
the biological iequirem ents of native prai- No-till refers to a method of orovwing crops which does
rie guass,;, twice-over range isa sustainable grazing not turn the soil and therefore mrust Iotate crops in or
libritui
ecosystem, suited to the extreme climatic system, oitimizing cattle production while cultivat- der to prevent the spread of dcsease.
conditions of the region.
ing native prairie.
This method was also developed to emniTlae the native
Occassional prairie fires would prevent trees from Grazing istimed to "prune" the grasses once so that prairie ecosysterm, based on the prermise th at rative
taking ro'ute, while returning nutrients to the rich they relproduce a second time in the same g'-owth prairie soils are anongo the healthiest in the countiy,
soils and allowing a diversity of grasses to thrive.
interrup ts this naturai productivity
cycle. Because grasses multiply vith each re-growth, but the act of tilling
this system actually builds prairie, making it stronger and regenerative capacity
and nore resistant to invasive sipecies.
Despite the major drawback of chernical 'ise (htypothet
Grazing can occur either in oper land, or on cropland ically less than conventional aq). r;o-till builds soil health
in the winrrter, potentially serving as an interface be- over time, with yields nearly twice that of conventional
tween tho ,two land uses.
growing methods. For this reason, I would describe
no-till
as "sustainable," and believe that it should be
marketed as a "natural" production meth!od in order to
receive a higher market value. Suc~ia rnarket incentive
is not yet in place.
Once the piedon"in nt land type of thle Great Plains,
rative prairie is a mrodel of thie ideal, productive equ-ii

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A method of growingly
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suLIchI
as synthetic pesticides
a.nd ferti~zers. Ciops noust be rotated if'order to
prevent the spiead of disease.

MONOCULTURAL

AGRICULTURE

Conventional growinl m) ethods typically i ,'s r;vidual crops over lar10

,(tracts of land withoo ,lroatin g
fields, and depend e,,;lusively on synthetic tlernical
inputs for disease artifertility
manager l it.

The majlor advaitage it organic

f
agiicltl
re is its Intensive killing and ever-incieasing quLraniifles oftexavoidanrce of allexterdl( chiernilcal inpuclts. Chemlical telnal inpu(ts are ne(c ssary to maintain Ii liictlvIrt y.
aibstin1den:e alliows o0iaics to earn a reliably higiy Over ti1me, soil strul:t
ilin ntiils
lhele anid olganicJ
mai kel value, iriakitij themo tai umoie profitable than COmie comllpletely exihalsted and can I. I I s.
colnveltional crops. It is,
however, a fi(,danmer tally gained,
uinsustairnable systen i f1or
imaiy of tie san-me reasorns

GMOs
Thic cuflelt

plogretissvns

panac

is th1

I&chnology ut

geI etlically modified orgar isrns, of (GMi()s. GM seeds

are qgan.ted certain tiaits -iithe laboratoty such as ge111t c 111111-mnily to (dro111t, pss o0 weoeis.
WI-ile
(

hIe benrefits ate rn;l

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7iiirfilntly, c(,iltalOinatil
sf)l an th1e irmodified (elu'
nt Is vis
. ( (
.,
c lops and deSltwyi.n(g eos(ys te
toally iim ossible

ld on
as conventional growing n-oethods, such as soil de- This currenit agiicultllol 1norm- was estobli h
pletion and 00ecreased productivity over time, with after VVVVII iilhen v
tiri; e resources anl i(sei
(cwh 20('" of
in
wlls Mr'l
ltush ( ) a
y
r
ow -oul(Jd-u
I ignhly unpredictable yields.
were fuinneled in(to
Ionmestic productviv 1 ,,t5 ,is RevLady (GM,/ii) soybeans altered !o gLovi in a coldel di, i st lo s nlateI than
agrlcultuIie and rnar Ifact(lring. Synt!eti
in oybeais ale typ cally a;l: to)aiud to ()coibl[at
and fertilizers wvere
str developed at thi: miic.
d 1e-CIlic lI
l v'eld 11i10 r! cl ) t (a-iy di(;voi3l Clo
a
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Coteau Hills
"prairie potholes"

ND

Mcintosh County

SThe white, or "regenerated," area on the map directly correlates to an unarable zone of extreme topographic conditions:
I "potholes" (permanent and temporary lakes), and rocky soil.
I These obstructions make themselves evident despite the grid.

TIME

SCALE

CONTROL

PROGRAM

seasons

field

datum

open space I prairie

rotations

farm

manipulable

fields I range

drought / wet

region

maneuverable

labs I public space I dwelling

geologic

landscape

intractable

storage

0-,
ROTATION STATES
0 : regenerated

1 : in use

The map at left suggests that the landscape as we see it is merely an isolated moment in the constant shift of time and relationships. The phases
represented in the map are based on only one of the many time-cycles
which rotate through the land.

2 : exhausted
The taxonomy above describes a range of temporal cycles operative in
the Northern Plains and attempts to find correlations to physical scales
of land, levels of human control in each cycle, and possible programmatic
functions which could take place at each scale.

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ANNI JA vs. PERENNIAL RO0M

NO 1II

EROSION

C-4J

PRPOA

1 :"ROA

The image of a rotating landscape leads us to the conclusion that depopulation is inevitable, but re-population is
equally inevitable. Once the territory empties out, New Pioneers will be attracted to the idea of independence and
self-sufficiency in a vacant land - a blank slate of opportunity - and will discover this lost region once again.
The model of sustainable agriculture which acknowledges and augments cycles of growth rather than overriding
them suggests that settlement should not be a stubbornly stationary construct, but one which acknowledges and
plans for its own inevitable obsolescence.

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STRUCTURING

ROTATION

through

RESILIENCE

The agricultural strategy of rotation capitalizes on the resilience of soil to absorb trauma and still return to its
optimal function as a living organism. However, its ability to revive depends on leaving a certain degree of life
intact, and not exceeding a certain threshold of impact. Field rotation is a craft which constantly seeks the optimal number of crops, adjacency of fields, size of field buffers, and timing of rotation.
The absolute structure of the Jeffersonian grid leaves no margin. Fragmented plots of soil created by infinitely
thin boundaries do not permit any perimeter buffer. No policies regulate the degree of life remaining in each
fragment.
Furthermore, although the current landscape demonstrates rotation at one scale, the presence of the grid prevents it from occurring at other scales or across scales. As previously mentioned, another consequence of the
infinitely thin boundary lines is a complete lack of human-scale access to the land prevented by roads, fences
and property lines.
The following proposal considers how rotation and a capacity for resilience can be structured into the grid.
Within this structure, naturally unarable regions are capitalized upon such that re-population of the territory
always leaves a certain margin of life. During periods of de-population, this margin reconstitutes back into a
complete living organism, absorbing and erasing traces of human life.
[srutuig]

resiienc

GRID 2

GRID 0

GRID 1

Jeffersonian Iceal of pi ivate ownershlip

obstructagrliculturt e, beconme public. Curirent condritiot

I
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Equilibrium of public and private space.

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The maps above trace the evolution of Mcintosh County as it introduces the structure of an ecological buffer.
This buffer generates a continuous network of marginal land that is able to maintain a self-sustaining ecosystem. While providing uninhibited access for humans and wildlife throughout the county,
it can also absorb runoff from adjacent programs without compromising its long term stability. As
the county depopulates, this buffer will grow to rehabilitate the abandoned land, and retract once
again to absorb the inevitability of re-settlement.

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human errors.

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INVERTING FIELD and FRAGMENT

Natural ecosystems permit a certain margin of error to the follies of humans on earth.
In the majority of American settlements, structured by the Jeffersonian grid, "ecosystems" per se have ceased
to exist. Naturally self-sustaining systems have broken into discontinuous fragments within a field of human
inhabitation. We have eradicated even the slimmest margins and sealed over every inch of ground.
In Proposals 1 and 2, wilderness - or the "primary" condition of an equilibrium ecosystem - becomes the field
condition occupied by fragments of human activity. This spatial relationship ultimately ensures the subservience of humans to their environment.
This new structure introduces necessary adjacencies which only occurred previously in isolation. In the vocabulary of the taxonomy at the beginning of this chapter, "Ideal 0" is now the field condition within which its
opposite - "Ideal 2" - must reside.

The program I have chosen to play out in this landscape - an insitute for biogenetic research - investigates how
a Progressivist attitude towards settlement might behave within the constraints of this new grid which finds
stability in a state of natural equilibrium.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Kimbrell, Andrew, ed. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Sausalito: Foundation for Deep Ecology,
Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002. p. 42-43.
Warman, Arturo. Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance. University of North
Carolina Press. Chapel Hill : 2003. p. 184-8.
Kimbrell, Andrew, ed. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of IndustrialAgriculture. Sausalito: Foundation for Deep Ecology,
Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002. p. 223.
Cunfer, Geoff. On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. Texas A&M University Press. College Station, TX
:2005. p. 202.

5.

Kimbrell, Andrew, ed. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Sausalito: Foundation for Deep Ecology,
Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002. p. 224.

6.

ibid, p. 56-7.

7.

Cunfer, Geoff. On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. Texas A&M University Press. College Station, TX
: 2005. p. 201.

8.

ibid, p. 202.

9.

The psychological barriers to adopting rotation systems were reiterated by a number of primary sources.
Ransom, Joel. Pollen Flow in Wheat Revisited. North Dakota State University. Fargo, ND : 2004.
http://www.ag. ndsu.nodak.edu/biotech/presentations/Pollen %20flow%20in %20wheat%20revisited.ppt

10.

Image Credit
http://www.monsanto.coni

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New Pioneers & GMOs

It should be the aim of every young farmer to do
not only as well as his father, but to do his best;
'to make two blades of grass grow where but
one grew before.'
Isaac Newton, U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture, 1863.
Quoted in Two Blades of Grass by T Swann Harding.

GENETIC ENGINEERING
The genetic modification of organisms epitomizes Progressive ideals by demonstrating a devout faith in the
power of human intervention to overcome the obstacles presented by naturally occurring phenomena. Genetic
engineering is able to control specific characteristics such as immunity to drought, pests or weeds.
The primary threat posed by GMOs is the mystery of their impact, specifically the uncertainty of genetic drift
and the impossibility of containment.
Genetic drift refers to the possibility of genes transferring from one plant to any other plant species through
cross-fertilization. This can happen, for example, through seeds or pollen travelling in the wind. "Contamination" of one crop with modified genetic material destroys the entire yield. Most threatening of all is the possibility of gene transfer into the wild where it can spread without notice, and destroy entire ecosystems.'
Gene transfer only happens above ground - not through soil or water - and, while health effects of GM food
products on humans are up for debate, gene transfer to humans is not a threat since transfer cannot occur
between dissimilar organisms.2
Despite its detractors, GM crops are already here, and here to stay. Roughly 20% of farmers in McIntosh
County depend on GMO Soybeans in order to survive.3
,genetc

drif

CONTAINMENT

r = 20'
r = 33'-59'
r = 50'
0'90
r 90'

r= 150'

FIELD

Length - 700 ft.

potential gene drift in a field

Assessing Risk:4
20'
maximum risk of cross-pollination
33'-59'

zero outcrossing likely

50'

current typical natural boundary

60'-90' research recommended isolation

90'
zero outcrossing highly probable

150'

maximum distance viable pollen can travel

Use of GMOs introduces the problem of containment. In short, genetic drift is a problem of risk
assessment.5 Containment only lessens but never eliminates this risk. The full extent of possible
drift is also unknown due to insufficient research.
While transfer is most likely to occur within 150
feet, it has been known to occur over a distance
of miles.
One quintessentially progressivist solution to
containment that is being researched is 'biocontainment' - genetic inhibitors that function at
the molecular level. But the most reliable form
of containment known is simply physical distance between fields. Given our current lack of
knowledge about the potential risks of GMOs,
the greatest risk is negligence, while the best defence is vigilance.

D.R.I.F.T. RESEARCH

INSTITUTE for FIELD TECHNOLOGY

DRIFT proposes to locate a new research facility in McIntosh County, ND. The company plans
to develop crops which are resistant to drought and extreme cold, but their primary mission is
to research genetic drift and its potential impacts on agriculture.
The research mission requires the release of potentially harmful materials into the open such
that the facility must be located in a highly remote location with a large buffer of vacant land
between itself and the nearest neighbors. McIntosh County is the ideal location for this facility.
Land is cheap and plentiful, and climatic conditions are extreme. The area is sparsely populated
posing little threat of resistance to the institute's activities.
The facility's remote location is positioned within a cluster of lakes in the Coteau Hills which
provide habitat for wildlife, and recreational sites for residents.
DRIFT has an incentive to appeal to local farmers in order to promote their product and deter
resistance. As they have done successfully at previous research and manufacturing facilities,
they commit to converting their property to wilderness for public recreational uses such as
hunting and fishing or snowmobiling.

* Coteau Hills
"prairie potholes"
N

* CRP Duck Habitat

Protection Zone

- McIntosh County

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January

July

Direction of Prevailing Winds

October

Annual

01
niss or sec(,onis

pothole lakes
arable land
unarable land
[Coteau Hills & Duck
Habitat Protection Zone]

Ir

--

1.
2.
3.
4.
2.

Personal conversation with Katie Theoharides :PhD candidate in Ecology, University of Massachusetts,
Boston, MA.
Personal interview with Robert McDonald : Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate
School of Design.
Personal interview with Bill Klein : Ashley Extension Agent, Ashley, ND.
Ransom, Joel. Pollen Flow in Wheat Revisited. North Dakota State University. Fargo, ND : 2004.
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.ed u/biotech/presentations/Pollen %20flow% 20in%20wheat%20revisited.ppt
Personal interview with Robert McDonald : Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate
School of Design.

Sf
S

C$

The New Frontier

When we see how we have succeeded in imposing our own rhythm on nature in the agricultural
landscape, how we have altered the life cycle of
plants and animals and even transposed the seasons, we become aware of how dangerous a role
we have assumed... the salvation of Landscape 3
depends on our relinquishing this power to alter
the flow of time.
57

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.

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scovern
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g

F]

FIELD
FIELD

DRIFT

2500 ft

1500 fi

POTENTIAL DRIFT

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\
\

experimental field drift

FIELD SCALE

FARM SCALE

Experiments have demonstrated that genetic

material such as wheat pollen can travel up to
150 feet before it is no longer viable.

Genetic drift and contamination has been known to occur

up to a 2 mile radius, although risk assessments based on
experimental data suggest this phenomenon is impossible.

The diagram above shows the potential drift zone

of one field. The distances have been adjusted to
account for prevailing wind patterns.

The research strategy shown above plants fields within the

potential plume of a primary field in order to test agricultural
impacts of drift. These fields in turn generate new plumes.

IR117

II
I

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9~

regional drift
10

20

30

40

50 years
prevailing
wind

REGION SCALE

RESEARCH

Plumes continue to propagate over an everincreaing distance as research continues.

DRIFT's mission is to research how genes might travel at a territorial scale. Their basic strategy is
to plant fields within the theoretical "plume" of prior fields. These recipient fields in turn propagate
new plumes.
This recursive research strategy propagates plumes through the region over time. The time-based
strategy diagram above shows how, as one trajectory of research is underway, new trajectories are
initiated simultaneously. With each new line of research, strategies are adjusted according to the
lessons learned in the experiments already underway.

siting drift
N arable land
* unarable land : privately owned
_]unarable land : public access
[wilderness recreation area]

60

~-si

GROWING WILDERNESS
For its own benefit of secrecy, DRIFT chooses to locate its operations in the most remote location
in Mcintosh County neighboring a network of wilderness protection zones which also places it in
a position of greatest potential threat to the region. But the greatest risk of genetic drift is negligence, while the best defence is vigilance, and the company's incentive to remain vigilant is its
desire to prevent resistance to its activities.

-i ..
\

-r.

DRIFT appeals to the community by converting each site it uses into a new wilderness recreation
area, slowly growing the network of open space in the county.

i
.i
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..

At each site where the company establishes its research operations, one field is planted which
propagates a plume over an assumed distance. For experimental purposes, this plume is continuously sampled by researchers.

''
i
.*
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L.

plume sampling grid

Over a roughly 10 year period, the majority of the site remains unused except for the tracks of the
researchers, and occassional mobile field stations. The site is essentially being conserved, allowing
ecosystems to regenerate and wildlife to return. The constant surveillance of the land provides the
best assurance possible that any potential contamination will be promptly detected.
e

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Site 2:
Site 1:

10 years

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LrIJ
site phasing
While one line of research initiated by the primary site is underway, a secondary site is activated.
As new lines of research are initiated on neighboring sections of land within the region, scientists
modify their tactics to incorporate lessons-learned from prior experiments. At any one time, up to
three threads of research can be underway simultaneously

II

4\
twice-over range
-

contained

------- restricted
... ........ . released

crop fields

LLL~l

' as-found' land

introduction

release & propagation

erasure

contamination to rehabilitation
PROBABILITY vs CONTROL
Although complete control over the
drift of genes is never possible, various physical controls are placed on
site in order to increase the probability of release or containment.

RELEASE and CONTAINMENT

introduction: The land, as-found, begins in a middle state of post-agriculture rehabilitation.
release & propagation: A concentrated collection of fields is planted and allowed to release
contaminants into the territory. Sub-fields are then planted in their plume. The surrounding area is
continuously monitored.
erasure: Abandoned fields begin rehabilitation, while monitored lands fully regenerate into a selfsustaining prairie ecosystem. Introducing range animals can assist rehabilitation of contaminated
fields as well as encourage the prairie ecosystem if it fails to thrive on its own. About 50% of agricultural activity in McIntosh County is ranching.

OVERVIEW

The maps at right document the arrival of the

DRIFT Institute at a remote site in Mcintosh
County, its modification of the land and eventual
departure and erasure. The following pages detail
the phasing of the site and the landscape devices
which both activate and abandon the site.

The three phases of occupation are Introduction,

Propagation and Erasure. Despite short-term
risks to the surrounding areas, this process allows the renewal of ecosystem function and the
decommissioning of roads - the most basic physical manifestation of the pre-existing grid.
Even an entity which believes it can exert absolute control over its environment can strike a sybmiotic equilibrium with the system it occupies.
S

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ii

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___1IIIIIN

phase 1:introduction and release

.5

existing conditions, research established

1 mile

private property : ag or ranching

[shading shows topographic relief]
public access : prairie ecosystem
genetic research field
I

acquired site

pothole lake

:'
Chj 'f

wetland habitat
dirt road
-

paved road

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phase 2: capture and propagation

phase 3: erasing and prospecting

site intervention aids propagation

initial site abandoned, new site identified

i:
0

A,. Elliptical Research Sampling

Elliptical sampling is based on risk assessments of drift according to wind
and weather patterns.

B.

Lli
r
i

65

Gridded Legal Sampling

Gridded sampling is based on normative survey techniques, used in
measuring for liability.

A'y'AV
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A c"

----------

, I-'

Ari

stone mounds

indicate property linesI

cuts
suggest passage
create drainage

permeable walls [movable]

prevent access
permit wind and drift

obstructing walls [semi-permanent]

prevent access
built from rocks excavated from soil

buildings relative to land

burying as control

exemplify varying levels of

an example of greatest

interior and exterior control

[ln

scp

conrol.

_II~

~I~

existing lakes
large lakes used for recreation [i.e. boating, fishing]
lake edges with tall grasses provide wetland habitat for ducks

constructed lakes
divides two areas of the site : restricts access
receives field runoff where chemicals can break down
after the site is abandoned, increases total wetland habitat for ducks.

berms [topographic scale]

create wind breaks to provide protection over long distances
bermed plateaus collect wind on top where fields can be located
in order to encourage spread of plant material.

berms + wind break [landscape scale]

small berms must be planted in order to protect seedlings.
mature wind break trees provide both a wind barrier and filter, protecting habitat at water's edge, and water surface for recreational use.

6evices

The landscape devices above are a toolkit that assist the research institute with its activities. Each manipulation
of the site does not disrupt its function as a closed-loop ecosystem and therefore permits the site's eventual
rehabilitation to an equilibrium state.The three primary factors being controlled are:
Propagation of organisms, both experimental and naturally occurring.
Containment of organisms, both to control spread and protect specific site conditions or property lines.
Access, toallowcontinuous passage of publicandwildlifethroughthe site, despite being privately owned.Manipulations are nevera guarantee of any of these conditions but an increase in probability thata desired outcome will occur.

SPASE

The research institute arrives on the site, establishing

a primary cluster of fields and arraying an optimal network of sampling points. The map at left shows the
existing site conditions with an overlay of the sampling
grid.
. ..

I,,

?-'r
''tI~S~

o.,

.L".

Site Selection: The institute tries to select sites

which are located within a cluster of state or federally owned recreation zones (i.e. North Dakota or U.S.
Fish and Wildlife departments) such that the majority
of the plume lands on their own property or government land.

i!

While the conversion of the site to wilderness is perceived as beneficial to the public, the institute is at
liberty to sample freely according to their own methods on public properties. If a neighboring section of
land is privately owned, both suspicion and liability are
raised.
Sampling: Along with liability comes specific demands to implement a "gridded" sampling strategy
which complies with normative surveying methods.
Gridded sampling, however, is both less efficient and
ultimately less effective since efforts are equally distributed rather than focussed where probabilities are
highest.
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Above: Bermed field with constructed drainage and temporary fences.

Below: Entry into site along a cut through the berm. View of wind break (right).
f 17 ; - , ,
Ir
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. .

Wind break for protection of recreation and habitat.

PHASE 2

The strategy for occupation established in Phase 1

must deform to the specific conditions of the site.

The primary field is bermed into a plateau in order to

increase the probability of spread. A second site within
its plume to the SE is acquired, and a "recipient" field
is also bermed. An unobstructed corridor of land which
passes between the two lakes at center and connects
sites 1 and 2 is maintained.

Obstructions are placed to protect the large lake at

center, the property lines to the east and west, and
restrict public access to the field sites.

While obstructing the spread of genes into these bodies of water is not of great concern, protecting the wetland habitat around the perimeter is critical. The lake is
also used recreationally as well as for a research field
station. A wind break of tree rows effectively protects
all uses, including an access point for boats which can
patrol the banks.

TX:~
i

The east and west property lines are marked by pre-existing roads which sufficiently inhibit access, but sampling must continue on the adjacent property to ensure
that contamination has not occurred. In this way, the
optimal sampling grid deforms to the site conditions.

I.

PHASE

: propa

atio

At the main entry to the site - the northernmost road

-the road cuts into the field plateau. The main research
facility is half buried into this cut so that it prevents
public access to the fields, while maintaining access
to both zones for its own use. Permeable barriers are
placed around the unobstructed edges of the fields.
1]

Above: Wind break protects new settlement at intersection of new roads.

Below: Identifying a new primary site.

72~

72

PHASE

In

The

the

third

bermed

phase,

field

the

prirnary

constructed

fields

lake

abandoned.

are

and

research

facl-

ity - which remains active - are left behind, but all temporary permeable barriers are removed.
A new "primary" site for a parallel research operation
is identified to the Northeast, and new field sites within
the plumes generated in Phase 2 are also located.
The soil within the abandoned field is extemely depleted of nutrients. But the continuous and increasingly
healthy soil surrounding it, with the help of an increase
in grazers and forragers on the site after removing the
temporarv barriers, will auicklv re-inteorate this foot-

print.
As these sections of land slowly evolve into a self-sus-

taining ecosystem and wildlife habitat with a minimum

of human presence, roads that once gridded the site

are slowly decommissioned. Pre-existing roads trace

ii~
jl

virtually every section-line of the Jeffersonian Grid, but

the majority of them are only dirt which, when unused,
grow over with grasses and slowly disintegrate.

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cross sections [below]

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[scale: 1" - 32']

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Above: View from research facility laboratories. Bermed or buried portions of the building
allow continuous access for the public and range animals.

CONCLUSION

This project directly confronts a cultural-commercial-ecological system and proposes a deliberate series of
relationships to the components of this system. Essentially, I have proposed a means of occupying space by
designing strategic behavior.
Evaluating the "success" of this intervention from an architectural point of view is virtually impossible because
architecture does not posess the vocabulary to describe it. It is a little bit too big and a little bit too intangible and
invisible to really be called "architecture." As such, it brings to the table a dilemma within architecture today.
The scope of architecture seems to be continually expanding beyond the limits of the individual building, as evidenced by a growing trend towards landscape and urbanism (the motivation behind the " Landscapism" issue
of Praxis, for example). Perhaps this tendency is occurring in order to integrate built form into its immediate and
extensive environment, or in the ceaseless quest for new form, or perhaps in order to find greater relevance in
the world beyond aesthetic satisfaction. Regardless, architects are speaking about landscape, and about territory, but at what extent do we ultimately exceed the limits of the discipline altogether?
In the context of this project, the lingering architectural question is whether the visibility - or invisibility - of
the intervention matters. Referring to Landscapism, I would answer that no, it does not. In the introduction to
Praxis 4, the editors describe that the projects "provide provisional solutions to the question of how to accomodate change over time in a flexible framework. (...) Economic, social, and political factors, technologies, and
ecological considerations are all employed as active agents in the design process:' and are related through the
diagram which "does not describe the project, [butl embodies the project'." The diagram serves as "a kind of
guide, a configuration of relations between material conditions that could yield numerous possible futures (...)
implicitly recognizing the impossibility of projecting a final condition."
While architects have been designated as being responsible for making space aesthetic I would argue that architecture is fundamentally about the relationships it constructs: between individuals, identity groups, market
interests, or in this case between humans and the land they occupy, and the forces which act upon the land.
What became the focus of this intervention was in fact to eradicate the obstructions to the building of relationship between humans and the land, and in so doing, to clean the slate for a new beginning.

ECUL

nf

4-s

Agriculture Matrix

Bibliography

83

native prairie

twice-over range

the onrginIl gras 'lind ecosystenm of the Great Plains. One third of
thile Hitrr nrisiiofed in thlese rich soils wrs ieleased irmmiediately
uipon pinwing by homesteaders,

A imetlhod of grazring iin vwhichllvestor

Native prairiecanr e called a rotation systei because it is the direct

result of the seasonal and climatic conditions of the region. Severe
droughts would trigger occassional wildfires, preventing trees from
matirurin and c:onlribrhir g to soil fertility.

Rotalion occurs thirough the timerr cycling of livestock twice through a

series of fields, according to the seasons. Winter grazing on harvested
fields can also be done in order to distriibute marlure and fertilize field!'
for the spring.

Native prairie is thr natural ecosystemr after which No- ill agriculturee io; modelled. Undisturbed praiie soils are alive with organisms which facilitate nutrient cycling and aerate the soil, giving it
a healthy structure while allowing it to absorb scarse supplies of
water and preventing erosion.

Tilllmng
is not involved Ii reanlOe
rnianagernernt However, Iire system of
nmultiplying grass produictivity in order to push out vveeds performsr thie
same function that tilling wvould provide.

Nutrient cycling occurs naturally through periodic fires, lightning

strikes, cross-politnation of a diversity of plant species, and roaming
range animals subsisting off of prairie grasses and redistributing the
nutrients with thleir manure.

Whenrr livestock bite off tie tips of grasses, these grasses are able to
absorb more nitrogen from the air and pull it into the soil. Evenly disIributed manure returns most nutrients to the soil, and winter grazing
on fallow fields can fertilize soil for the spring.

cycl

twice durng th!e s;rin

suinmmer and fall through the same seres of fields. By eating the tips
of budding prairie grasseS rdurinrg he spring and early summer, these
grasses imultiply five-fold, enough to piovide livestock with a second
grazing later in the season, while riushing out irnvasive species and
restoring a healthy prairie.

Virgin native prairie self-managed against irvaders through its ownv lIre rapid rtitrllirlicatiori of lative grasses pushes oiu weeds and invafertile proliferation. Drought and burn cycles were the basis for sive species.
determining which species could survive.

Erosion is a non-issiue ifn healthy native prairie ecosystems.

While erosion can be a major problem in traditional range manageoment

systernms, wice-Over Range Management prevents erosion through
grassland regeneration.

Native Prairie iuses only solar energy for photosynthesis.

Ranog

land usually requires waler to meIuP

p

drriri
fromi a cenrial source

rut to the fields. wlhich can be done sui iciently vith solar povier.

Productivity is dilthcult to assess for a system which does not have

a nmeasurIed or marketel "yield." However, prairie can be described
as being prordclive" due to the continuortis proliferationr of a specific collection of species.

Nat-rireve
Pi
ing ecrrsysternr

,lii
riedls a IrtuIralIixampli n ofa lealthy, sell-siustari-

can yinq capacity for grazing anr nials

Iwice-over rangeland has a higher carry
than traditional rangeland, wilh no In,on()rrirnmpacts to that land - ronly
benefits. Limiting factors are acreage of grasses and the availability
of waler.

Pirolnerly managed rangeland demo stratei s how natiural and ma

systemis (a.I suistainably and productLively co-exist

no-till agriculture

organic agriculture

conventional & GMO

A method of growing crops which does not turn the soil and therefore
must rotate crops in oider to prevent the spread of disease.

A method of growing crops which does not apply external chemical

inputs such as synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Crops must be
rotated in order to prevent the spread of disease.

Conventional growing methods typically grow one or two subsidy

crops on an entire farm, and depend exclusively on synthetic chemical inputs for disease and fertility management. GMO crops have
no special requirements, although growers are reputed to rely more
heavily on chemical inputs attributed to an ideological faith in agricultural technologies.

No-Till agriculture typically employs 3-4 crop rotations, including soil

building crops such as legumes.

Organic agriculture typically employs a minimum of 3-4 crop rotations, including soil building crops such as legumes. Each crop sequence cannot be repeated in the same field moie than once or
twice to prevent pests and diseases from developing resistance
strategies over time. Fallow fields may be included in rotations. Biodiversity through crop adiacencies must also be planned to encourage fertility.

Monocultural agriculture does not rotate crops. Occassionally, a

field will be left fallow, but fallow fields are susceptible to erosion.

No-Till agriculture employs methods of crop cultivation modelled after

the native prairie ecosystem - the only living system known to thrive in
the Plains - but continues to apply external chemicals inputs. Arguably,
because of improved soil retention properties, these chemicals enter
plants directly, without leeching into groundwater or running off the
soil through erosion.

Organic crop production depends on tilling soil to eradicate weeds

without use of external chemical agents. In this way, it canrbe considered most similar to conventional approaches to agriculture, and
least similar to the native ecosystem.

Conventional agriculture relies heavily on tilling. After growing the

same crop on one field over many years, the soil requires every
possible defense against pests and disease.

In a well-planned rotation with healthy soils, No-Till should require little

to no chemical fertilizer. In reality, the "perfect" rotation is difficult to
plan, and with such a new system, few soils are healthy enough for
chemical fertilizers to be used in less-than-average doses.

Fertility is managed through planning rotations with legumes, including fallow fields in rotations, and encouraging cross-polination
through field adjacencies.

In monocultural systems, fertility mtanagement requires a constant

flow of external synthetic nutrients. Year to year, more fertilizer increases yield to a predictable degree, but beyond a certain threshold
of depletion, soil fertility becomes impossible to boost artificially.

No-Till manages pests and diseases through crop rotation. But without
tilling the soil and uprooting weeds. rotation alone is not enough to
fully protect crops. Chemical pesticides are used - like fertilizers - in
arguably smaller doses, but in practice equal doses as in conventional
methods.

Carefully planned rotations and tilling are the primary defenses that
organics have against pests and diseases. If a crop becomes infected by a pest or disease during the growing season, most often,
the entire crop will be lost.

Similarly, monocultural systems use chemicals heavily to combat

pests and weeds. A common interpretation of this approach to
farming is that farmers express fear of failure through chemical applications.

Erosion is a non-issue in No-Till systems.

Both tilling soil and leaving fields fallow make soil highly suceptible
to erosion, loss of nutrients, and degraded structure. Organic growing systems struggle to maintain a precarious balance between soil
degradation and rejuvenation.

Erosion is the end-state of monocultural agriculture. The more soil

is tilled, and the more natural nutrient cycles are displaced by synthetic nutrients, the imore the soil structure breaks down and becomes susceptible to erosion.

No-Till systems use energy fcorthe production of chemical agents, as

well as in the machinery used to plant and harvest. Arguably, by eliminating the energy-intensive tilling process, the total energy used is
less than that of Organic systems.

Tilling uses highly energy intensive heavy machinery, and requires

multiple passes over the saime field. Arguably, the total energy used
in organic crop production is greater than that used in no-till systems (including chemical agents).

Conventional agriculture uses by far the most energy of any of

these systems primarily in the form of petroleum-based synthetic
inputs. Tilling also requires intensive mechanical labor

No-Till agriculture has been proven to be twice as productive as a conventionally-grown plot of the same acreage.

The productivity of organics is a contentious topic, and difficult to

measure because of the variety of crops grown at any one time.
Current estimates say that large operations (--3,000 acres) would
be substantially less productive than conventional methods, while
small operations (-50 acres) would be much more productive,
though not enough to profit from. No one has estimated what the
"optimal" in-between scale might be.

Conventional agriculture undoubtedly produces high yields fiort

year to year. However, high yields of a single subsidy crop is not
necessarily the most efficient route to profit. Subsidies, although
consistent, can be barely enough to live off of. The cost of external inputs - although subsidized as well - can greatly compromise
overall profit.

No-till crop production is not fully sustainable because of the extensive use of external chemical agents. However, it is the only model
of highly productive crop cultivation modelled after a hearty natural
ecosystem. A sustainable future depends on developing a chemicalfree approach to No-Till.

Organic agriculture is hardly the sustainable systeim it is publicized

to be, but rather a continual struggle to maintain fer tility despite soil
degradation over time. The future of organics can only be found in
developing a no-till strategy which is mutually exclusive with current methods.

Conventional agriculture - characterized by a continual depletion of

soil quality and overall yield - can not be considered sustainable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Industrial Ecology / Sustainability
Hawken, Paul; Lovins, Amory; Lovins, L. Hunter. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.
Little Brown and Company. Boston :1999.
McDonough, William and Braungart, Michael. Cradle to Cradle. North Point Press. New York : 2002.

Landscape
Corner, James, ed. Recovering Landscape. Princeton Architectural Press. Princeton, NJ : 1999.
Corner, James. Taking Measures : Across the American Landscape. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT
1996.
Jackson, John Brinckerhoff. Discovering the Vernacular Landscape. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT
1984.
Schaeffer, Ashley and Reeser, Amanda, eds. Praxis 4 :Landscapism. New York :Praxis, Inc., 2002.

The Nature of Nature

Haraway, Donna. "ACyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century." in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge. New York :1991. pp. 149-181.
Marx, Leo. "The American Landscape in the Era of Postmodernity." in Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos.
no. 4 :1996. pp. 13-28.

Land Use
Bonanno, Alessandro, Lawrence Busch, Willliarn Friedland, Lourdes Gouveia, and Enzo Mingione, eds. From
Columbus to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas,
1994.
Cochrane, Willard. Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis. Minneapolis, MN: University
of Minnesota Press, 1993.
Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis. New York : W.W. Norton, 1991.
Cunfer, Geoff. On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. Texas A&M University Press. College Station,
TX : 2005.

Fitzgerald, Deborah. Every Farm a Factory: The Industrial Ideal in American Agriculture. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 2003.
Fitzgerald, Deborah. "Technology and Agriculture in 20th Century America." In A Companion to American Technology. Edited by Carroll Pursell. Oxford: Blackwell.
Kimbrell, Andrew, ed. Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture. Sausalito: Foundation for Deep Ecology, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002.
Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America, London : Oxford University Press, 1967.
Marx, Leo. The American Ideology of Space:. Working Paper #8, Cambridge : STS Program, 1989.
NDSU College of Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources : http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/
Markets
Coquil, B and Campenon, Ph. "AMicro Satellite-based Demonstrator Mission for Agriculture and the Environment" in Smaller Satellites : Bigger Business?: Concepts, Applications and Markets for Micro/Nano Satellites
in a New Information World. M. Rycroft and N. Crosby, eds. Kluwer Academic Publishers : Dordrecht : 2002.
Millstone, Erik and Lang, Tim. The Penguin Atlas of Food: Who eats what, where and why. Penguin. New York
:2003.
Shiva, Vandana. Yoked to Death: Globalisation and Corporate Control of Agriculture. Research Foundation for
Science, Technology and Ecology. New Delhi : 2001.
Warman, Arturo. Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance. University of North
Carolina Press. Chapel Hill : 2003.
Mechanisms : Seeds / Fertilizers / Farm Credit / Farm Management / Subsidies / Energy Co-ops
de laPerriere, Robert Ali Brac and Seuret, Franck. Brave New Seeds: The threat of GM Crops to Farmers. Trans.
Manisha Sorani and Vijaya Rao. Zed Books. London and New York : 2000.
Macher, Ron. Making Your Small Farm Profitable. Storey Books. Pownal, VT. 1999.
Manske, Llewellyn. Biologically Effective Management of Grazinglands. (CD). North Dakota State University :
Dickinson Research Extension Center. Dickinson, ND : 2003.

Myers, Willim Irving. Economic Study of Farm Layout. Cornell University PhD Thesis. 1920.
Ransom, Joel. Pollen Flow in Wheat Revisited. North Dakota State University. Fargo, ND : 2004.
http://www.ag. ndsu.nodak.edu/biotech/presentations/Pollen % 20flow% 20in %20wheat% 20revisited.ppt
Schaetzl, Randall and Anderson, Sharon. Soils: Genesis and Geomorphology. Cambridge University Press.
Cambridge, New York : 2005.
also see Personal Interviews

History & Cultural Framework

Dudley, Kathryn Marie. Debt and Disposession: Farm Loss in America's Heartland.Chicago, IL. University of
Chicago Press : 2000.
Farrell, Michael. In Little Towns Like These. (videorecording). GPN. Lincoln, NE : 1987.
Marquart, Debra. The Horizontal World : Growing up wild in the middle of nowhere. Counterpoint. New York :
2006.
Nerburn, Kent. Neither Wolf Not- Dog: On forgotten roads with an Indian Elder. New World Library. Novato, CA
:1994.
Neth, Mary. Preserving the Family Farm: Women, Community and the Foundations of Agribusiness in the Midwest, 1900-1940. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore : 1995.

Personal Interviews

Frank Kutka : Assistant Director, Sustainable Ag Specialist, Dickinson Research Extension Center. Dickinson, ND
hybridizing, viability of sustainable alternative agriculture systems
Llewellyn Manske, PhD : Range Scientist. Dickinson, ND.
twice-over range management, the prairie ecosystem, soil structure / composition
Pat Carr, PhD : Associate Agronomist. Dickinson, ND.
viability of organics, barriers to change
Roger Ashley : Extension Agronomist. Dickinson, ND.
no-till agriculture
Bill Klein : Ashley Extension Agent, Ashley, ND.
Julie Hetteger : Adams Extension Agent, Lehr, ND.
Duane and Chantra Boehm : organic producers in Richardton, ND
Marlow and Sandy Werth and Henry : certified seed producers in Lehr, ND
Robert McDonald : Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
GMOs and intensive agriculture: contamination and containment.
Katie Theoharides PhD candidate in Ecology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA.
Plant invasion in grasslands. Nutrient cycling and ecosystem functionality.

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