Re: Whole Foods buying local?
Dan Hook (guldann@ix.netcom.com)
Mon, 2 Aug 1999 22:55:04 -0400
I was just reading on the front page of the business section of my local
paper, Worcester, Ma. the following: Paraphrased A local organic dairy
farmer was having trouble making ends meet paying taxes etc. The local
officials worked out a payment plan, so he gets a bit more time to farm.
However in the last 10 years, VanHazinga(the farmer) has battled the state
over his refusal to add vitamins to Brookside Farm's organic milk; battled
the Westminster (his town) Zoning Board over sale of hot dogs and hamburgers
at the stand; and again in 1993. snip He traces his current troubles to
1996, when the sale of Bread and Circus to Texas Whole Foods dealt a severe
blow to his revenues. Bread and Circus was a major buyer of Brookside's 10
varieties of organic milk;the new owners (Whole Foods) had its own milk
suppliers. snip "I'd love to put chocolate milk in mini-markets, Mr. Mike's
and so forth, but they all have full-service contracts, " he said. (I have
had the chocolate milk delish). It continues to talk about a large company
Suiza Foods that have bought up most of the local dairies. VanHazinga says
he'd love to sell developement rights but no one is interested. VanHazing
stood in front of his barn, staring into the distance, his eyes brimming
with tears of frustration. "I'm so far behind I just can't catch up", he
said.
-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia Foreman <goodearth@rockbridge.net>
To: sanet <sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu>
Date: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 9:37 PM
Subject: Whole Foods buying local?
>Earlier this year I attended a two-day organic symposium in Maryland. One
of
>the guest speakers was from Whole Foods. She spent 4 hours telling some 50
>farmers how hard it is to find local farmers to buy food from and how
>desperately Whole Foods tries to do so. As far as I know, however, not one
>farmer that day got any contract, or encouragement to grow for Whole Foods.
>The following week I spent most of a day on the phone trying to connect
with
>buyers from Whole Foods stores in Maryland, Virginia an d North Carolina.
>Not one person returned my calls. So much for supporting local farmers. I'm
>afraid Greg Gunthorp is right, Whole Foods uses the "local farmer" bit as a
>gimmick to increase sales of their mostly conventional products.
>
>Andy Lee
>Good Earth Farm
>
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