Growing Power

Growing Power is a nonprofit urban agriculture organization founded in 1993 by Will Allen, a MacArthur Fellow and former professional basketball player, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The organization was built on the principle that all people, regardless of income or background, deserve access to fresh, healthy, and sustainably grown food. Operating from a two-acre urban farm in Milwaukee, Growing Power developed an innovative model of intensive food production using composting, aquaponics, hoop houses, and raised beds to produce large quantities of fresh food in a small urban footprint. At its peak, the organization ran multiple farm sites, a large-scale composting operation, and an extensive training program that educated thousands of urban farmers from around the world. Growing Power’s composting system, built around worms and food waste from Milwaukee’s food industry, became an internationally recognized model for urban resource cycling. Will Allen used the platform to advocate powerfully for urban agriculture, food justice, and sustainable food systems at national and international levels. The organization faced significant financial difficulties in the mid-2010s but remains an important reference point in the history of the urban agriculture movement. Growing Power’s model demonstrated that densely productive, ecologically sound food growing is possible even in challenging urban environments and helped inspire a generation of urban farmers across the United States and beyond.