Inside the shopping cart of the typical American family, cheap processed foods often win out over fruits and vegetables, whether they're conventionally or organically raised. There may be a few grapes and bananas or even a head of iceberg lettuce or bag of potatoes in the mix, but when families with limited financial resources are faced with the bottom line - which is how to get the most volume with the least out-of-pocket expense - the produce department is generally not the first, second, or third place that they wheel their cart into. Sadly, our country's rampant rates of obesity, heart disease and diabetes prove what happens when we consume poor quality diets that are high in sugar, carbohydrates and fats. Of course, none of us want to get ill and we'd probably all be happy to eat more healthfully (and even more sustainably) if cost was not a determining factor...right? What about location- location- location?
In many of the most depressed economic areas in this country, people don't even have access to fresh produce or farmer's markets - instead, they rely on big box stores for their basic grocery requirements as well as small convenience stores stocked with shelf-stable goods and plenty of empty calories. Although Pop-Tarts and Fruit Roll-Ups possess far fewer fruit-like characteristics than what can be derived from eating a fresh apple, these products are often regularly relied on, as are instant potato side dishes and other dump-and-eat preparations that contain very little in the way of sound vegetable-based nutrition. For this segment of the population (which is a lot larger than you'd imagine), eating the recommended 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is not only a stretch, if you exclude potatoes and corn from the picture, it is practically nonexistent. Bottom line -- when financial resources and geographical region play a major factor in consumer decisions, paying attention to the carbon footprint of broccoli and string beans is rarely if ever on the radar, and understandably so.
Well, Walmart plans to change this dynamic by offering more "heritage agriculture" in their stores -- a fancy way of saying that their increased demand for produce will enable smaller and medium-sized family farmers to get back into the biz. This in turn will enable shoppers across the United States to have access to a greater selection of fresh fruits and vegetables at prices that they can afford, including even more organic versions. This plan will reduce Wal-Mart's current reliance on traditional growing regions in Mexico, Florida and California - the shipping of which takes a great toll on the environment - since they'll instead take advantage of the crops that are grown "within a day's drive of one of its huge distribution centers." As we have seen time and time again, Walmart continues to be a dominating power in the global marketplace, which suggests that through the successful implementation of their latest plan, they could very well help to infuse our agricultural industry with a much needed eco-organic boost and benefit our health in the process.
As it stands, the National Resource Defense Council says that our produce travels an average of 1,500 miles (the equivalent of several days) from field to table, which is probably far more mileage than what many of us end up racking up in just a couple of months of daily commuting. Think about the diverse number of crops that take this type of high-mileage journey on a repetitive basis throughout the days, weeks, months and years - Good Magazine calculated that conventional versions of spinach, garlic, lettuce and carrots generally travel 1815, 1811, 1823 and 1838 miles (respectively). It may be tough to imagine Walmart as being America's eco and dietary savior since ensuring higher profit margins always seems to be their top priority, but the positive consequences of their new push for sourcing local produce are hard to ignore. Even the Environmental Defense Fund's Michelle Harvey recently told The Atlantic, "It's getting harder and harder to hate Walmart." What are your thoughts? Does it really matter to you what name is on the outside of the store that you purchase your locally grown food from? Would you purposely make a trip to Walmart now that you're aware of their new local produce policy?
Leslie C.
said on February 17, 2010