Growing Power in an Urban Food Desert

Yesmagazine.org brings to light Growing Power, a two acre farm in the middle of Milwaukee which is home to 14 green houses that help feed the local food desert inhabitants. Growing Power also works in partnership with the Rainbow Farming Cooperative and together they are working to fight health issues and food racism, as founder Will Allen calls it, in the Milwaukee food desert.



"At the northern outskirts of Milwaukee, in a neighborhood of boxy post-WWII homes near the sprawling Park Lawn housing project, stand 14 greenhouses arrayed on two acres of land. This is Growing Power, the only land within the Milwaukee city limits zoned as farmland.

Founded by MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellow Will Allen, Growing Power is an active farm producing tons of food each year, a food distribution hub, and a training center. It’s also the home base for an expanding network of similar community food centers, including a Chicago branch run by Allen’s daughter, Erika. Growing Power is in what Allen calls a “food desert,” a part of the city devoid of full-service grocery stores but lined with fast-food joints, liquor stores, and convenience stores selling mostly soda and sweets. Growing Power is an oasis in that desert."

Read the entire article at Yesmagazine.org