Movies & Music Reviews
Will Allen and Growing Power
2010-07-09 11:19:59 Posted By: Cindy - Ref
Son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader and now farmer, Will Allen has become recognized as one of the most preeminent thinkers of our time regarding agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Will is a leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture.
If you can’t quite get the picture from the term urban agriculture, the DVD shows exactly how Allen bought the last available farm in the City of Milwaukee and turned it into a powerhouse of fresh food that feeds hundreds. An advocate of local foods, Mr. Allen stresses that “it’s all about the soil,” and his work is all about hoop houses, vermiculture, worm depositories, worm tea, organic slurry, moldy hay, wood chips, and most interestingly, aquaponics. Aquaponics is the method of growing crops and fish together in a re-circulating system. In the Growing Power model, crops grow vertically on raised beds, and Tilapia and Yellow Perch are bred in a water system that circulates through the hoop houses. To get the full impact of Will Allen’s Growing Power and the depth of the sustainability he has accomplished, you’ll want to watch the presentation. The title of the DVD is Will Allen, and you may place a hold on it from the library catalog.
In 2008, Will was named a John D. and Katherine T. McArthur Foundation Fellow and was awarded a prestigious “genius grant” for his work – only the second farmer ever to be so honored. He is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and was invited to the White House to join First Lady Michelle Obama in launching her signature leadership program to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. In May 2010, Time Magazine named Will as one of the “Time 100 World’s Most Influential People.”
