In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, journalist Michael Pollan writes that “organic” is being transformed “from a reform movement into an industry.” To escape this industrialization, some farmers and consumers responded by “elevating local above organic,” writes Pollan. They had hoped that local would be out of industry’s reach. Turns out they were wrong.
Whole Foods Market wants its new Portland store, slated to open in February, to showcase a commitment to local agriculture — but putting our food supply in the hands of a large corporation will result in a few changes.
“This particular store is going to feature enormous amounts of local products,” says Chandrika Sanyal, store team leader at the new Whole Foods Market, and former owner of the Whole Grocer. (Whole Foods Co. purchased the Whole Grocer about a year ago.)
The new store will even feature live Maine lobsters — notable only because last summer the company claimed selling lobsters was against its “commitment to humane treatment and quality of life for animals.” Other local produce may be in shorter supply.
Whole Foods has “publicly made claims about the Portland store being a landmark store as far as local purchasing efforts,” says Melissa White, marketing coordinator for Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. “The reality is the supply is not going to be there.” At 48,000 square feet, the new Whole Foods is more than six times larger than the Whole Grocer. “The produce section is bigger than the [entire] old Whole Grocer,” says White.
In contrast, the Whole Grocer’s produce section is “teeny,” says White, but reflects what local producers can supply. “The majority of the produce [at Whole Foods] will not be from Maine,” White says.
Whole Foods cheerily acknowledges as much on its Web site. “Because local produce is subject to seasonal and regional variations, we cannot adhere to a strict ‘only local’ policy,” writes the corporation. “With stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, Whole Foods Market exercises a global reach and buying power that ensures a wide choice of natural and organic produce regardless of the season in your locality.”
“The reality,” says White, “is that [Whole Foods] is a corporate entity and won’t have the same kind of local connection that farmers have with existing vendors. It’s going to take time to develop relationships. . . . We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Sanyal says the commitment to existing farmers and suppliers will remain when the new store opens this February. “It is our intention that every vendor currently producing have the opportunity to sell to Whole Foods,” says Barbara Gulino, Whole Foods’s Portland marketing team leader. No farm will be considered too small to supply the new store; instead, products from smaller farms will become featured items — “boutiqued,” says Gulino.
Smaller producers can learn how to hit the big time in a Whole Foods-sponsored series of seminars, scheduled for March at the University of Southern Maine. For example, says Gulino, smaller producers can learn to increase production and perhaps add more equipment “because the customer base will be much bigger.”