It is fairly unusual to be able to meet the author and protagonist of any given All-School Reading assignment. And when that individual is as inspiring – and yet, pragmatic and unassuming – as Will Allen, whose journey is related in The Good Food Revolution, it is a rare treat indeed. In the midst of a comprehensive “Wellness Week” that centered on his remarkable story, Middlesex was fortunate to host Mr. Allen on September 24, 2015, and to hear his thoughts on the state of American agriculture and health.
The son of sharecroppers in South Carolina who fled north in “The Great Migration” of the 1930s, Mr. Allen nonetheless learned early on from his parents how to till the land and grow delicious, nutritious food. After successful careers as a professional basketball player in Belgium and then in sales and management for two Fortune 500 companies, he drew upon his agricultural skills to become an urban farmer, one committed to growing healthful, affordable food for people who typically lack access to fresh produce and local markets in their city neighborhoods. He is now the CEO of Growing Power, a nonprofit he helped to found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that is dedicated to developing and teaching sustainable food production.
Starting with the premise that “food is the most important thing in our lives,” Mr. Allen told Middlesex students, “We have to change our food system, and your generation will do that.” As he pointed out, just about all jobs are connected to food – from farming to transportation to business to healthcare – but America’s current, large-scale production model is not sustainable and does not provide the same quality of food to people of all economic classes. “Everybody has the right to good food and should get the same food, not different qualities for the poor or the rich,” he said.
“We need everyone at the table,” Mr. Allen stressed. “We don’t have enough farmers, and we need to figure out how to feed growing cities.” Noting that U.S. rates of obesity and diabetes are at an all-time high, he advocated, “We need old-time farming and new technologies to cut production costs; we’ve proved it can be done.” In fact, within its five greenhouses in urban Milwaukee, Growing Power has developed less expensive, sustainable methods of composting rich soil, growing organic greens, and even farming fish. His impressive results certainly merited a McArthur Foundation “genius” grant, which Mr. Allen received in 2008.
“Are we going to change the food industry overnight?” Mr. Allen asked. “No. It is going to be there.” Instead, he aims to provide people with fresh, affordable alternatives. Rather than expend energy on fighting the existing industry, he chooses to work on new approaches that can be scaled up to feed more people. “I’m always looking for ways to improve the system,” he said. For his caring, committed efforts, he received a standing ovation.