Monday, May 3, 2010

Will Allen Plans Five-Story Farm in Milwaukee

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online:

The proposed five-story vertical farm - dramatic in shape and with an expansive, sloped glass front to absorb natural light - would be built at Growing Power's existing 2-acre farm at 5500 W. Silver Spring Drive through local and federal donations and grants. A half-dozen existing greenhouses would be preserved as historic structures. The estimated cost is $7 million to $10 million dollars.

It would have 23,000 square feet for classrooms, a demonstration kitchen, offices, staff locker room, retail store, food processing, loading dock and freezers. An additional 15,000 square feet of sloped area, facing Silver Spring Drive, would be devoted to growing vegetables and fish. Fish tanks for perch and tilapia would be trenched into the ground. The building would have a rooftop solar panel, would capture rainwater to be recycled for watering plants, and would transfer heat from the building top to a thermal mass underneath to store for future use.

Read the entire article

Will Allen Picked for TIME Magazine 100

Will Allen, founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was named one of the 100 people who most affect our world in the 2010 TIME Magazine 100: The World's Most Influential People . Read the article in TIME magazine.