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Mar 22, 2009

"Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling." --Virgil

NBA Player turned Farmer-Activist

At 6 feet 7 inches tall and 280 pounds, Will Allen is a former NBA basketball player with the biceps of an NFL lineman. The son of an illiterate laborer, Allen is now a farmer-activist, and founder of Growing Power, a nonprofit farm in the middle of Milwaukee that raises fresh produce for under-served populations with high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Allen has been a leading figure in urban agriculture for a decade, and recently received the distinguished MacArthur Genius Grant. Thanks to the growth of the local foods movement, his approach of melding sustainable farming and mentoring kids is gaining broader attention. He is not a table-pounder, but he is passionate about his long-held beliefs: Good food helps build healthy communities, and the costs of relying on food that travels long distances have become too great.