Thursday, February 25, 2010
Walmart and Local, Organic Produce
This month's Atlantic has an interesting article about Walmart's forays into local, organic produce. The author was skeptical, figuring it was just green washing, but Walmart is actually stocking a lot of local, organic produce now. I guess they wanted a slice of that market and realized that while they may pay a little more for the product they save a bundle on shipping when they buy local. Given their buying power, Walmart could actually provide a major boost to local, sustainable agriculture. And, because many operate in food deserts, they may be helping lower income people eat healthier. Who knew?
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3 comments:
i did, i did!!
many in the sustainability world are conflicted about this because, of course, in many ways walmart is truly unsustainable (too big, too much waste, displacing local stores, etc) and there is disagreement about whether their organic food options are truly organic (some purists believe that if "organic" food has traveled more than 100 miles, it's not organic). BUT it is driving the market, which is a good thing. and walmart has also demanded that all its suppliers reduce packaging waste--also transforming the market. and they require their employees to have personal sustainabilty plans. so--in many ways, very much a positive. plus they're reaching a market that previously couldn't afford organic food. all in all, i'm supportive but with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Not organic if it travels more than 100 miles?!? What about my beloved organic bananas?
It seemed to me that the transportation piece was key for Walmart. They've realized that they can make organic produce profitable if they don't have to pay too much for shipping it.
I think the money quote from the article is from the head of the Environmental Defense Fund: "It's getting harder and harder to hate Walmart."
For the record, the possibility that Walmart could provide real groceries to the Southside food desert has kept me from being totally against them coming to the city. It really could change things.
Yeah, but it's still not THAT hard to hate Wal-Mart. Part of that is just elitism, of course. They peddle crap. but, if they are able to help bring organic to a wider marketplace, I suppose they can be downgraded to pretty freakin' evil, from pure evil.
hey, why didn't B-Gav live-blog the healthcare thing?
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