The Business Model Question
There is no single "right" business model — only the wrong yardstick.
“No single business model is inherently more viable than another; rather, achieving long-term financial sustainability remains the critical constraint across all structures.”
Judging every BIA project against a commercial definition of success sets most of them up to look like failures.
BIA projects span a wide spectrum, ranging from purely commercial, for-profit ventures to nonprofit and community-led initiatives. The report finds that no single business model is inherently more viable than another; rather, achieving long-term financial sustainability remains the critical constraint across all structures.
A for-profit vertical farm chasing return on invested capital and a community garden focused on equitable food access pursues fundamentally different objectives. Yet, funding programs, zoning incentives, and media coverage frequently apply a monolithic, commercial "success" standard to both. This mismatch is evident in the case studies: Agripolis in Paris diversifies revenue by blending farming with an event space and a farm-to-table restaurant.
The report argues that investors, policymakers, and operators must explicitly define their target model before evaluating a project's success. A community-based initiative should not be deemed a failure for generating modest revenue, just as a strictly commercial vertical farm should not be evaluated against community impact metrics it was never designed to deliver.
In the report:
Part III, "Beyond Food: The Economic and Social Value of BIA."