by Will Allen
Over the past century, we allowed our agriculture to become more and
more industrialized, more and more reliant on unsustainable practices,
and much more distant from the source to the consumer. We have allowed
corn and soybeans, grown on the finest farmland in the world, to become
industrial commodities rather than foodstuffs. We have encouraged a
system by which most of the green vegetables we eat come from a few
hundred square miles of irrigated semi-desert in California.
Growing Power, Inc. was started in Milwaukee, WI, in 1993 by Will Allen, a 2008 winner of a
MacArthur “Genius Award” who has long worked to produce and deliver
healthy food to low-income communities. It is a national nonprofit
organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds,
and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal
access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in
all communities.
Growing Power, Inc. implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.
"My vision is to have this world [where] everybody
has access to good food. It's something we should
always be working on, so my work [exists] to
help make that happen." --Will Allen
The State of Food in America
Over the past century, we allowed our agriculture to become more and
more industrialized, more and more reliant on unsustainable practices,
and much more distant from the source to the consumer. We have allowed
corn and soybeans, grown on the finest farmland in the world, to become
industrial commodities rather than foodstuffs. We have encouraged a
system by which most of the green vegetables we eat come from a few
hundred square miles of irrigated semi-desert in California.
We have to stop paying the largest farm subsidies to large growers of
unsustainable and inedible crops like cotton. We have to stop paying
huge subsidies to Big Corn, Big Soy and Big Chem to use prime farmland
to grow fuel, plastics and fructose. We have to stop using federal and
state agencies and institutions as taxpayer-funded research arms for the
very practices that got us into this mess.
The Solution
The Solution
We have to start subsidizing health and well-being by rewarding
sustainable practices in agriculture and assuring a safe, adequate and
wholesome food supply to all our citizens. And we need to start this
reform process now, as part of the national stimulus toward economic
recovery.
We need everyone at what I like to call the Good Food Revolution Table. We need corporations. We need medical folks. Universities. Politicos. Planners. Educators. Dieticians. We need architects to design our new small farms and community food centers, and we need planners to design sustainable communities to transform food deserts into healthy neighborhoods for all the people. We need people with expertise in the areas of public policy. We need technical experts. Contractors. Composters. And most importantly, we need our wonderful farmers.
We need everyone at what I like to call the Good Food Revolution Table. We need corporations. We need medical folks. Universities. Politicos. Planners. Educators. Dieticians. We need architects to design our new small farms and community food centers, and we need planners to design sustainable communities to transform food deserts into healthy neighborhoods for all the people. We need people with expertise in the areas of public policy. We need technical experts. Contractors. Composters. And most importantly, we need our wonderful farmers.
About Growing Power, Inc.
 |
Will was awarded an honorary doctorate
from his alma mater, the University of Miami, for the founding and implementation of Growing Power, Inc. |
Growing Power, Inc. implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.
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Resources:
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| "It's an inspirational book ....[that] really talks about how we could take good food and transform communities." --Will Allen |
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