The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities

At the start of this chapter, Allen describes what happens when he and some colleagues decide to “make trips through the South to teach people how to farm” (210). By following the example of George Washington Carver, Allen was inspired “to imagine outreach training centers for Growing Power” (211). While traveling through this part of America, Allen learned about the Southern reliance on meat and that fresh food, like fruits and vegetables, have grown scarce. “[D]estructive agriculture that treats the land as a conquest, that batters the earth with pesticides” (214) reinforced this pattern of culture. It also solidified Allen’s commitment to community education around food and agriculture: “By the end of 2008, Growing Power had developed regional outreach training centers in more than half a dozen locations, from Mount Bayou, Louisiana to Louisville, Kentucky to Lynchburg, Virginia” (215).

Back in the Midwest, Allen joined forces with other individuals who concerned their efforts primarily with urban agriculture; they “wondered whether Detroit’s vacant lots could be repurposed for growing fresh food” (216). While assisting the city of Detroit, Allen was experimenting with livestock in Milwaukee. A goat was his first animal, followed by chickens, whose waste generated heat in the hoop house in which they lived; thanks to this success, Allen decided to “[explore] other novel ways to create energy” (220) from organic waste.

In this chapter, Allen also profiles a number of groups and individuals who have contributed great things to Growing Power, crediting the relationships he developed with these people with the success and innovative nature of his work with Growing Power. When Walmart indicated an interest in investing in Growing Power, Allen “gratefully accepted this grant without hesitation” (225), despite his own understanding of Walmart’s tendency to undercut small businesses. At this point, some of Allen’s supporters questioned his decision, which Allen accepted, understanding why they criticized him. More important to Allen is the “honest truth that with urban agriculture, we[…] have not yet made it reliably profitable” (226). Thanks to innovative thinkers like Jeremy Brosowsky, who created a business out of delivering compost to farmers, Allen believes strongly in the potential of composting to be “a fringe movement that is about to become mainstream” (232). As well, Allen compliments other urban agriculture initiatives that “have social and economic benefits that extend beyond the organization’s own balance sheets” (232).These projects, like Walnut Way in Milwaukee and Lynchburg Grows in Lynchburg, Virginia, are making a significant impact with their goals “to better their community and who know that there are values more important than money” (235).

In the final chapter, Allen offers readers reflections, memories, and dreams about his experiences, past and future. He imagines a vertical urban farm, an off-grid five-story building, positioned next to his original farm stand, “run by the power of the sun and by food waste and other biological forms of energy” (241). In this building, Allen hopes to carry on his development of a new food system, a movement he calls the “good food revolution” (243), and he hosts a conference in Milwaukee in 2010 to further his goals and to offer like-minded people an opportunity to gather and share their ideas and experiences. The same summer, the first graduates of Growing Power’s commercial urban agriculture class enjoyed a ceremony “in a tent pitched in the parking lot between Growing Power’s greenhouses and Karen Parker’s house” (245).

Allen concludes the book with an invitation to readers: “Join us. Pick up a shovel, get your hands dirty, and let’s begin” (249).