About Benjamin Fahrer
Benjamin Fahrer
Designer & Builder of Ecological Farms
Experience
30+ years organic & regenerative farming
Role
Educational Program Manager, Regenerative Organic Alliance
Company
Top Leaf Farms — Founder & Owner
Teaching
Market Garden Institute teaching team
Speciality
Integrated ecological farm design & build
Urban Ag
SF Bay Area rooftop farming pioneer
Base
North America (working worldwide)
Podcast
Sustainable Futures — Episode 23
Biography
Benjamin Fahrer brings over three decades of hands-on organic farming experience to every engagement — not as a theorist, but as someone who has designed, built, and operated farming systems with his own hands. Based in North America, he offers farms a rare cross-continental perspective: a deep understanding of the global market infrastructure that's driving demand for Regenerative Organic Certified™ supply, combined with direct insider knowledge of the certification framework itself.
As Educational Program Manager for the Regenerative Organic Alliance — the body behind the ROC standard — Benjamin works at the heart of the certification system. He is also a member of the Market Garden Institute teaching team, and the founder of Top Leaf Farms, a firm specializing in the design and construction of integrated ecological farming systems.
Benjamin is one of the leading voices in urban and rooftop agriculture in North America. His firm designed and built the Rooftop Medicine Farm in Oakland, California — the largest rooftop farm on the West Coast, capable of producing over 25,000 lbs of certified organic food annually. This expertise in high-efficiency, space-constrained ecological systems translates directly into peri-urban and mixed farm operations.
His ecological approach to farming and farm management is rooted in the belief that healthy farming systems must serve not just the people who eat from them, but the land in which they grow and the communities that steward them. He is deeply committed to building these ecosystems in service to nature — and to helping farms access the premium markets that are increasingly demanding exactly what regenerative organic practices produce.
Design & Build to Consultant
Benjamin's primary expertise is designing and building integrated ecological farming systems from the ground up — as a contractor and consultant. When he recommends a system, he can build it. This hands-on capability is the foundation of his regenerative organic transition consulting.
A Global Perspective on Regenerative Farming
Having designed and built ecological organic farms and led ROC educational programs across multiple continents, Benjamin brings a cross-continental perspective that helps farms understand and leverage the global market demand for certified regenerative supply.
A Pioneer in Urban & Rooftop Agriculture
As the founder of Top Leaf Farms and one of the leading voices in urban agriculture in North America, Benjamin designed and built the Rooftop Medicine Farm in Oakland — the largest rooftop farm on the West Coast, producing over 25,000 lbs of certified organic food per year. Translating higly productive market gardening to the rooftops of the bay area and working with architects worldwide.
Deeply Rooted in the ROA
As Educational Program Manager for the Regenerative Organic Alliance, Benjamin works directly within the certification body — giving clients an unparalleled insider understanding of the ROC framework, its requirements, and its trajectory.
Urban & Rooftop Agriculture
Growing food where no one thought to look.
As founder of Top Leaf Farms, Benjamin has pioneered integrated urban rooftop farming in the SF Bay Area — designing and building productive ecological systems on rooftops that most would consider unusable agricultural space. His most acclaimed project, the Rooftop Medicine Farm in Oakland, is the largest rooftop farm on the West Coast, capable of producing over 25,000 lbs of certified organic food annually.
This expertise — designing high-yield, ecologically integrated systems in constrained, unconventional spaces — is directly applicable to peri-urban farms, city-edge operations, and food businesses exploring rooftop or vertical production. If you're thinking about urban food production, Benjamin is one of the few practitioners who has actually built it at scale.
