Thursday, July 3, 2008

Just Beyond the Parking Lot

  Daily Grist
Wal-Mart gobbles up local produce

You thought you took home a haul at the farmers' market last week, but you've got nothin' on Wal-Mart. The big-box retailer has become the nation's largest buyer of local produce, planning to purchase and sell $400 million worth of locally grown fruits and veggies this year. Wal-Mart says it works with "hundreds" of individual farmers, and has 50 percent more partnerships with local growers than it did in 2006. During the summer months, says the company, one-fifth of available produce in Wal-Mart stores is sourced locally. An emphasis on local produce -- which Wal-Mart defines as grown and sold in the same state -- keeps the company's delivery trucks from burning about 100,000 gallons of diesel, slices its customers' farm-to-plate distance by 672,000 miles, and saves it $1.4 million each year.

sources: Associated Press, Reuters, PR Newswire

http://lists.grist.org/dm?id=83EA8C03A716ED212948031DA4331C8C

 
  Sphere: Related Content

No comments:

Blog Archive

Subscribe via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Search This Blog

Subscribe Now: standard

Add to Technorati Favorites