Oases in food deserts

Big bucks go to urban farmers

By Culinate staff

October 3, 2008

Across the country, valiant folks are trying to bring real food to those without, via community gardens, food banks, even innovative organizations like Oakland’s People's Grocery. Now comes word that the MacArthur Foundation has awarded one of its coveted “genius grants” to Will Allen, who runs the Growing Power organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As the New York Times reported, Allen is devoted to bringing locally grown produce, meat, fish, and even clean, food-derived energy to “what he calls the ‘food deserts’ of American cities, where the only access to food is corner grocery stores filled with beer, cigarettes, and processed foods.”