Regionality

Recently WalMart announced what many would call sweeping changes to their policies regarding food stocked in their stores. One of these changes was that they wish to being stocking more locally sourced produce.

I think locally sourcing produce is a wonderful idea because it can lead to lower prices for the consumer and higher quality because the items are seasonal and do not have to travel great distances. Less travel can also theoretically lead to fewer green house gas emissions so obviously this is something wonderful for everybody. Or is it?

My question here is what type of produce will Wal-Mart be sourcing? How will it be grown? Who will own the farms? I do not necessarily believe the produce needs to be certified organic because that can raise the final cost to the consumer and in many cases is just a load of malarkey. Did you know there are still certain products you can spray on certified organic crops? Certifying a crop organic also does not stop it from being mono-cropped or produced by a large company that does not put the money it earns back in the community where the farm is located.

What all of this means is I hope WalMart can work with locally owned farms that practice sustainable and socially conscious farming techniques to supply their stores. Obviously WalMart is a huge company and I can only imagine the volume of produce that goes through one of their stores in a week but I really hope they do what I see as the right thing and partner with locally owned farms not just farms that are local but have absentee owners.

Of course it would also be wonderful if this means the end of Strawberries in December in stores but I doubt it will because too many people are still willing to buy out of season produce.

At least a huge retailer looks to be making some positive changes to their food sourcing policies. We shall have to wait and see how it pans out.