Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

"Wal-Mart said that in the United States, produce travels an average 1,500 
miles from farms to consumers' homes, and it should be able to save millions 
of "food miles" -- the distance food travels from farm to plate -- through 
local sourcing, better packing of its trucks and improved logistics."


Wal-Mart to source more fruits and veggies locally
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/n27309015-walmart-produce/
By Nicole MaestriPosted 2008/07/01 at 12:16 am EDT

NEW YORK, Jul. 1, 2008 (Reuters) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc is sourcing more 
produce sold in its U.S. supercenters and Neighborhood Market stores from 
local farmers as it tries to offset the soaring transportation costs that are 
driving up food prices.
A sign marks the entrance of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas June 
5, 2008. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

The world's largest retailer said on Tuesday it had increased the number of 
local U.S. farmers that it works with by 50 percent in the past two years, 
and it would like to continue expanding that figure at a double-digit rate.

While Wal-Mart declined to provide an exact figure, it said it now works with 
"hundreds" of individual farmers, and this year it expects to source about 
$400 million in locally grown fruits and vegetables from farmers across the 
United States.

"When we're buying local, there are less trucks on the road, less miles that 
that produce is traveling and therefore less fuel," said Pam Kohn, Wal-Mart's 
general merchandise manager for grocery.

Wal-Mart defines "local" as buying from farmers in a state and selling the 
produce at stores in the same state. Over the summer months, it said locally 
sourced fruits and vegetables make up a fifth of the produce available in 
Wal-Mart stores.

Grocery is a big business for the company, accounting for 41 percent of sales 
in its U.S. Wal-Mart stores for its fiscal year ended January 31. As food 
prices rise, shoppers have been flocking to its stores in search of cheaper 
groceries.

But soaring fuel costs mean the cost of transporting food to its 2,555 
supercenters -- a full grocery store combined with a discount store -- and 
138 Neighborhood Market grocery stores is more expensive, making it tougher 
to keep prices low.

While reporting first-quarter results in May, Wal-Mart said transportation 
costs would remain a "potential headwind" for the rest of the year, and Chief 
Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said he was worried about the ongoing jump in 
fuel prices.

Wal-Mart said that in the United States, produce travels an average 1,500 
miles from farms to consumers' homes, and it should be able to save millions 
of "food miles" -- the distance food travels from farm to plate -- through 
local sourcing, better packing of its trucks and improved logistics.

In an example, Wal-Mart said that by sourcing peaches in 18 states instead of 
just two, as it did before, it saves 672,000 food miles and 112,000 gallons 
of diesel fuel -- or more than $1.4 million dollars in transportation costs 
per season.

Kohn said while the organic food trend continues, customer demand for local 
produce "is a very big trend, a very big trend."