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closer to these urban areas. Aspart of the solution, we havedesigned and hope to build thebuilding, use it as a trainingfacility, and replicate that modelon a larger scale.PETER: With predictionmodels estimating 75% of themajor cities by 2050, can youtell us more about the conceptof vertical farms and whyyou are promoting them atGrowing Power?MR. ALLEN: Our vertical farmwill be a multiuse facility. Inmany of these food deserts,where there are no grocerystores, our vertical farms willhave a large retail store ona greenhouse and a stage foreducation. We grow verticallyinstead of growing on onehorizontal level; we have sevenmaximize our use of space in ourgreenhouses.PETER: A retail store cuts out anyneed for transportation since it isall produced and sold onsite?MR. ALLEN: Most of it will beproduced and sold onsite, butwill come from our other farms.Our Milwaukee, Wisconsin farmalready has 25 growing spaceswith aquaponics, goats, andchickens. This building would bein addition to that production.We are now feeding about10,000 people annually on threeacres of land. This intensiveproduction is predicated on thefarmer. WeCHECK OUTdirectly with WILL ALLEN’S BOOK,roots in the“THE GOOD FOODwater in our REVOLUTION”,aquaponicsBY VISITINGsystems;HTTP://OW.LY/JOX9Awe actuallyhave pots that we put in thewater so you get the best of bothworlds with nitrogen productionand micronutrient availabilityfrom our compost. So, you get areally good-tasting product andwhere the rubber meets theroad with healthy eating.PETER: Growing Power has anumber of incredibly sustainablesystems. The compost andvermicompost that you use turnsout 40 million pounds of would-every year. What would it take forpeople to adopt such systems?MR. ALLEN: People have to seethe power of Growing Power.learn in a classroom. I really tryto inspire them so they want toCULTURES Vol 2, Issue 1 » Page 9