In Search of the Food Less Traveled (I)

It has been calculated that meat travels on average 1,500 miles before it reaches the American dinner plate. Vegetables travel between 1,300 and 2,000 miles, and some fruit even further. Studies done in the United Kingdom have revealed that 30 percent of all truck traffic is due to moving food products around. And those miles do not cover the transportation of animal feed, fertilizers and anything else necessary to produce the food in the first place.
This traveling food chain of course makes it possible for us consumers to eat essentially any vegetable and fruit we desire at any time of the year, whether they are in season in our area or not. We have permanent access to reasonably fresh seafood and there is no shortage of cheap meat.
But this system has consequences that could cost us far more than any convenience we derive from it.
One of these consequences is the quality of the food. Meat from animals raised in industrial feedlot and confinement operations is cheap for a reason – you get what you pay for. Vegetables trucked over great distances are generally picked when they are not ripe yet (otherwise they wouldn’t survive the trip, let alone have any shelf life left once they reach the grocery store), which is why out-of-season vegetables never the same full flavor, or vitamin and minerals content, as fresh in-season ones.
Another consequence is the fact that all these trucks consume a lot of fuel (about 12 billion gallons a year, or over 32 million gallons per day) and emit a considerable amount of exhaust gases, thus contributing to air pollution and man-made greenhouse gases.
A third, and potentially even more serious consequence is that it undermines the livelihood of local farmers and food producers, with all the fallout this has for social and economic fabric of our communities, not to mention the negative impact the disappearance of sustainable family farms has on the environment.
In southern Wisconsin we are comparatively lucky, though. Many farmers’ markets offer opportunities for farmers and other food producers to direct-market their products and CSA-farming (community supported agriculture-farming) is becoming increasingly popular, providing another opportunity for people to buy local food. More and more restaurants also work with local producers.
The one area, though, from which local food producers have been conspicuously absent, is the one where most retail food sales take place: grocery stores.
And yes, this statement is not quite true. A number of grocery stores, most notably community-owned cooperatives have been supporting local growers and processors for years, decades even.
But now a growing number of conventional grocery stores are recognizing the importance of buying locally, and are increasing the share of locally produced food on their shelves.
They have two main reasons for doing that: their customers ask for it, and it gives them an opportunity to set themselves apart from the competition.

Willy Street Co-op

The Willy Street Co-op is one the pioneers of selling locally produced foods in Madison. According to communications manager Brendon Smith, they sell products from more than 180 local sources, defining ‘local’ as being from within a 150-mile radius from Madison or from Wisconsin.
“Supporting local businesses is very important to us,” he says. “It keeps money in the community and creates better jobs.”
Dealing with many individual suppliers takes more time and effort than simply buying from one wholesaler, but over the years the department heads at Willy Street have developed a purchasing system that provides the local suppliers with contractual certainty and a fair price, and the co-op with a consistent supply of fresh local produce at a reasonable price for their members.
Local products are available in virtually every aisle at the Willy Street Co-op, including the soap display, but their main claim to fame is their well-stocked local fruits and vegetables section. Products from local farmers are clearly marked (the famous purple labels) and indicate the name of the farm and the location. On a special black board they also announce what is up and coming locally.

Regent Market Co-op

For Jim Huberty, general manager of the Regent Market Co-op, supporting local vendors is a big part of what the Regent Market is all about:
“It is consistent with our philosophy. We are members of Dane Buy Local, we want people to buy their groceries from us and support us, so we do the same thing and support local suppliers by buying from them. And of course the Regent Market Co-op is locally owned.”
He also points out that more and more customers request local products:
“There is a growing awareness that locally produced food items are more environmentally friendly and fresher. Shoppers look for local products.”
When making their purchasing decisions, they always look for local suppliers in all departments – produce, meat, bulk, bakery, dairy or processed food – and work with several dozen local producers, including almost ten for just meat and dairy. During the season the Regent Market Co-op is also a pick-up point for several area CSAs.
And, as Jim Huberty points out, their commitment to local goes beyond food and also includes internal purchasing, like paper and office supplies and printing.

Metcalfe’s Sentry

Family-owned in the fourth generation, Metcalfe’s has a long tradition in the Madison community. Metcalfe’s Sentry at Hilldale faces a lot of competition from chains, but rather than trying to compete on price alone and risk compromising quality, the owners have opted for quality at a reasonable price. And offering products from local suppliers is an important part of that strategy.
Marketing director Brianna Purvis raises an interesting point about the definition of local:
“We consider local to be Wisconsin. But that includes big producers like Oscar Mayer as well as small producers.”
While she argues, quite cogently, that those big enterprises employ local staff and pay local taxes, that is not quite the definition a publication like the Sustainable Times has in mind when writing about ‘local businesses’.
But there is no doubt that Metcalfe’s is making a lot of efforts to increase the number of local food products on its shelves.
Practically all departments include food items from local producers, especially the dairy and bakery sections and even the flower store, except in the produce and fruit department, where the local impact is, as Brianna Purvis puts it diplomatically, “light”. But she also points out that they are looking to add local suppliers to their produce line-up.
The meat department on the other hand is quite the showcase for local products (even without Oscar Mayer, Johnsonville and the like). Meat specialist Dave Tredinnick and owner Tim Metcalfe take extra pride in their high sales of local lamb from Pinn-Oak Ridge Farms near Delavan, and in their recent agreement with Local Choice to sell organic meats and cheeses from family-owned Otter Creek Organic Farm near Lone Rock.
As Bartlett Durand of Local Choice Marketing explains (Local Choice Marketing develops and sells Otter Creek Organic Farm products), Metcalfe’s is a perfect fit for a farm the size of Otter Creek:
“We are too big to sell everything through farmers’ markets or direct marketing, while the high-end meat counters only wanted to buy the premium cuts. Metcalfe’s on the other hand takes whole animals and they have the qualified butchers to process them.”
The animals are raised in Lone Rock, butchered in Black Earth by Black Earth Meats and then shipped to Metcalfe’s.
“They only travel 44 miles,” smiles Bartlett Durand, alluding to the hundreds and thousands of miles traveled by conventional meat. “We are two companies of similar size that complement each other nicely. Everybody wins: Metcalfe’s gets great meat at a good price, their customers get high-quality certified organic meat at a good price, and Local Choice doesn’t have to play the distribution game to deal with the big chains.”

Whole Foods Market

Although Whole Foods Market is a national chain, the largest organic-food chain in the world in fact, it has made buying from local farmers and food producers one of its top corporate priorities, according to Paul Sigmund, store team leader of Whole Foods in Madison.
In order to support local producers, it has recently introduced its ‘Local Producer Loan Program’ aimed at strengthening the availability of quality local foods for Whole Foods Market.
“We have a big commitment to bringing in local,” says Paul Sigmund, “and it goes way beyond produce.”
Wandering through the aisles of Whole Foods on University Avenue one can indeed find local food products on almost every shelf, although the fact that they carry any local produce at all is unusual for a chain.
Whole Foods being a national chain with a corporate structure, its decision-making processes, purchasing policies and definitions of what is local are a bit different from local stores’.
While shoppers can find produce from about 20 Wisconsin farms at the store in Madison (with seasonal fluctuations of course), and many items from other local suppliers of dairy products, bakery and other processed foods, Whole Foods Market defines ‘local’ as ‘the Midwest’, and thus means not only Wisconsin, but also Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. Needless to say, the Sustainable Times uses a slightly more limited definition of ‘local’.
Most purchasing decisions are made regionally, although local buyers have been given more power over the years, according to Paul Sigmund, provided the suppliers meet the company’s quality standards.
He points out that they have built long-term relationships with most of their suppliers and that this system works quite well in everybody’s interest.