Whole Foods buying local?
Patricia Foreman (goodearth@rockbridge.net)
Wed, 04 Aug 1999 18:50:43 -0400
The point I want to make in this discussion is not whether or not Whole
Foods can or will buy from local growers, but that they should not be using
our image of wholesomeness and goodness to sell their mostly conventional
products. We small farmers are pawns in the Whole Foods advertising and
marketing ploys. They are very good at using phrases such as FREE ROAMING to
dupe their customers into believing that ALL their products are organic,
when this isn't even close to being reality. I agree with all of you who say
that a chain store has buying challenges that small farmers often can't
meet. For that matter, most small farmers can make more money, easier, by
selling to local consumers. But, when a farmer represents a group able to
produce 50,000 pasture-raised broilers annually, with a consistently
excellent, USDA packaged product, available every month of the year, then we
should at least have an opportunity to talk to a chain store buyer. Instead,
Whole Foods continues to buy their chickens from the broiler barns, then
resorts to phony advertising such as FREE ROAMING to sell product.
Incidentally, the US Department of Agriculture encourages this duplicity by
allowing labeling of organic chickens and eggs that are grown in barns
without access to any pasture. They also allow labeling of FREE RANGE any
time chickens have access to an open door that leads to the barn yard. We
should ask USDA to tighten up the labeling requirements.
Andy Lee
Good Earth Farm
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