Wal-Mart is muscling in on one of the fastest growing segments of American agriculture: local food.
But while the world’s largest retailer has already surpassed a 2010 pledge to double its local produce sales as part of a larger sustainability platform and commitment to small businesses, there’s little evidence of a widespread benefit to small farmers, particularly in the Midwest.
Wal-Mart says 11 percent of the produce sold in its stores nationwide comes from local farms, up from 4 percent in 2010. And in testimony before Congress last year, the company said its emphasis on local has saved customers more than $1 billion, while extending a helping hand to farmers.
“Unfortunately, there’s so little definition and transparency about how that happens that we don’t really know if that happens or how that happens,” said Wyatt Fraas, who works for the Center for Rural Affairs, a Nebraska organization that works to strengthen small farms in rural communities. “It’s their own numbers, their own recordkeeping, their own definition.”
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