Walmart's Newest Sustainability Initiative Focuses on Local Produce, Small Farmers : TreeHugger

Walmart's Newest Sustainability Initiative Focuses on Local Produce, Small Farmers : TreeHugger

Walmart announced the next steps it will take toward sustainability today, with a series of changes focused on increasing local produce in its stores and improving relationships with small- and medium-size farmers. The chain has divided the latest goals into three main categories: supporting farmers and their communities, producing more food with fewer resources and less waste, and sustainably-sourcing key agriculture products.

On a conference call following the announcement, a Walmart official said, "We have a responsibility as the world's largest grocery store to encourage sustainable agriculture," both in the retail stores and in the supply chain.

Walmart defines the first goal of supporting "farmers and their communities" as, by 2016: selling $1 billion worth of food from one million small and medium farmers; training as many farmers and farm workers in more sustainable farming practices; and increasing the income of small and medium farmers by 10 to 15 percent. That will be achieved in part by increasing the amount direct-sourcing from farmers and cutting out the middle-man.