Welcome to our 2018 report, a second review of N.C. supermarkets and their efforts to bring local foods to you.
The complete 41 page report, "Losing Local?," is free to download at the link below. For quick reference, the Executive Summary is also below. And here is the press release. Let us know what you think. |
The complete report is available here free for download.
| LOSING LOCAL? |
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2017, Local Organic Y’All conducted new and extensive research into local-organic sourcing and selling by the twenty supermarket brands operating in North Carolina. This follows on our 2016 research summarized in the report “Many Miles To Go: Locally-Grown Organics in North Carolina Supermarkets.”
FINDINGS
- Grocers are facing intense competition and upheaval with the entrance and expansion of several new brands in the Carolinas and the destabilizing Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods Market. To what extent can local sourcing and selling remain corporate priorities in the face of such competitive pressure?
- Our research found a decline in locally-grown product on store shelves and deteriorating signage and story-telling about farms in most stores. While the availability of organics to consumers continued to increase across brands, the fact that the vast majority of this was non-local makes it a mixed blessing.
- Supermarket company investment in food infrastructure remained very weak, although company investment in new stores and store refreshes was strong. How to convince grocers that local food infrastructure investment is in their best financial interest, helping them to sell more high-margin product?
- Slowly, but steadily, dialogue has been improving between supermarkets and small-medium size local farmers, along with allies from the food movement.
- In the meat, egg and dairy segment, the availability of humane, pastured product has been improving rapidly, while local suppliers remained rare.
- In our 2017 ratings, Whole Foods Market, Lowes Foods and Ingles took the top spots, with Kroger/Harris-Teeter, Food Lion and Walmart also making good efforts. While all of these chains can continue to improve, they should be commended for their work. Notably, Walmart was found to be much more local-friendly than its rival Target.
- Popular grocers like Publix, Earth Fare, The Fresh Market and Sprouts Farmers Market scored poorly on their support of local foods, focusing instead on organic product. These stores have great room for improvement. Ironically, grocers with many rural stores like BI-LO, Piggly-Wiggly and IGA had little identifiable local on offer.
- Limited offering stores like Trader Joe’s, Costco, Aldi, Lidl and Save-A-Lot demonstrated weak support of local food, with business models that are mostly antithetical to its success. Trader Joe’s did substantially better than the other four. If shoppers want to buy local, these stores at present are generally not the best option.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Supermarket chains and food retailers can:
- Re-examine their efforts to address our five best practices: local foods goals, planning and procedures; staff training and farmer networking; accurate and story-rich labeling and signage in stores; special attention to meat, eggs, and dairy; and investment in local food infrastructure (food hubs, processing, new farmer training, etc.)
- With 100 miles as a benchmark, rein in faux “local” and “local” as a marketing gimmick. End the misuse of the term “farmers market.” Take care with confusing the terms “natural” and “organic.” Recognize that local foods contribute to the local economy, protect nearby open space and water quality, and are grown by farmers near enough to know and visit. (A farm 500 miles away is not local, even if in a near-by state or in the same growing region.) Avoid confusing consumers into thinking that hydroponic is equivalent to soil-based organic farming.
- Stay focused on certain fruits and vegetables that need development in the Carolinas: string beans, blueberries and strawberries, leafy greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and carrots, for example. Support and communicate to customers about season extension efforts that can bring early and late harvests.
- Get more aggressive in adopting advanced technology (block chain, e.g.) to track product from individual farms to store shelves, informing customers better about products with less hassle and cost.
- Support emerging efforts to bolster local processing in its many forms, but especially canned and frozen foods.
- Increase efforts to teach about cooking. As interest in and knowledge of home cooking declines, work with local chefs and cooking teachers to spread cooking knowledge. Provide cooking spaces in stores and pay for trainers.
- As the “grocerant” trend accelerates (grocery store as restaurant), introduce local foods into supermarket prepared foods, taking advantage of imperfect-looking produce.
- Support key groups like Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the Center for Environmental Farming System’s N.C. Growing Together, Got to Be N.C., Feast Down East and the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.
Shoppers can:
- Make detailed requests to store managers to stock specific locally-grown organic products in their supermarket.
- Enthusiastically buy local product when available, as each person’s budget allows. Stay educated on which items have the most pesticide residue, in order to prioritize those as organic.
- Continue to support, praise and shop with food retailers that are supporting local foods (as outlined in this report) and encourage those that are starting to do more. Use social media to spread the word.
- Commit to cooking more at home. Learn about new ways to cook seasonal local produce. Try recipes that use smaller portions of more expensive local meat in multi-ingredient dishes.
- Support key groups like Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the Center for Environmental Farming System’s N.C. Growing Together, Got to Be N.C., Feast Down East and the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.
Farmers can:
- Get more training and do networking to understand the systems and constraints of large retailers.
- Address food safety procedures, insurance and packaging issues, to help them overcome these hurdles. Aspire to a standard like harmonized GAPs. Work together with other farms to increase aggregated supply through co-ops and hubs such as Eastern Carolina Organics.
- Support key groups like Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the Center for Environmental Farming System’s N.C. Growing Together, Got to Be N.C., Feast Down East and the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project.