109 / The missing middle of our food infrastructure / with Caitlin Taylor

Caitlin Taylor — architect, farmer, and founder of Midcourse Design & Development — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about the missing middle of America's food system, and why architects need to understand farming, supply chains, and retail, en route to rebuilding regional infrastructure.We also touch on: Why architects rarely work on food infrastructure. The lived experience of running a certified organic farm. How Mass Design Group shaped her practice model. The missing middle between industrial and direct-to-consumer. Why most food businesses operate despite the built environment, not because of it. Regional processing as the bottleneck. Fiddleheads co-op in New London, Connecticut as an exemplar. Why independently owned grocery stores are so rare. Grocery store layout and fresh versus shelf-stable ratios. Projects coming soon that will demonstrate the Midcourse model.Timeline:00:00 Caitlin Taylor is in good traffic.05:35 The multidisciplinary studio model.07:24 Weaving architecture, operations, planning, and finance.08:02 How Caitlin started Midcourse.08:39 Being both an architect and a farmer.09:31 Living on a certified organic farm.10:19 The food world as a small, networked community.11:11 Only architect in a room of farmers, only farmer in a room of architects.12:02 When the realization happened.13:04 Husband becoming a farmer while Caitlin was in grad school.13:39 The wacky idea that food system architecture mattered.14:21 Joining Mass Design Group in 2016.14:41 Founding the Food Systems Design Lab.16:59 Testing what role architecture plays in regional food systems.20:53 Why Caitlin left Mass to start Midcourse.25:31 The missing middle of food infrastructure.31:15 Processing, storage, distribution, aggregation.37:00 Why regional infrastructure disappeared.43:03 Globalized consolidation and economies of scale.49:21 Making regional systems economically viable.55:12 How architects can help food businesses.56:01 Grocery stores as museums of regional food.56:48 Seasonal eating and living with the seasons.57:17 Fresh versus packaged shelf ratios.58:04 Where to see this in action.58:27 Fiddleheads co-op in New London, Connecticut.59:35 Independently owned cooperative grocery stores.1:00:25 Why co-ops are so rare and often fail.1:01:23 The commute question.1:01:55 200 feet from kitchen to farm wash station.1:03:02 Wrapping up.Links:More on Midcourse.