Sourcing local is a challenge, and selling it is no picnic either. So hats off to Fresh & Easy’s ambitious “Farm to Store in 24” program, which guarantees local produce will be on shelves less than a day after it leaves the farm. The Tesco-owned supermarket chain, which operates 150 stores out west, says the program has been a resounding success — so successful, in fact, that they’re going to expand it.

As much as 65% of Fresh & Easy’s seasonal produce comes from California farms, and that percentage is set to increase as the retailer takes on more growers. This isn’t as simple as going out and shaking hands with a few farmers and telling them the truck will be by next week, however. It’s a collaborative effort, full of the eventualities that come with seasonal growing. Both parties have to do their fair share towards meeting that tight deadline.

“Getting produce from the farm to the store in 24 hours or less is an incredibly tricky task, which makes it important to partner with strong local growers who share our commitment to quality produce,” said Justin Hill, Fresh & Easy’s produce manager, in a statement.

The end result is worth all the effort. This summer’s lineup includes table grapes from the Coachella Valley and strawberries from farmers in Ventura County and Watsonville, on land overlooking the Pacific Ocean. MORE…

In Baltimore, there’s a newly appointed “food czar”. In Detroit, inner-city grocers offering fresh foods receive financial support. And in Syracuse, N.Y., a “Mobile Market” truck delivers fruits and vegetables to low-income consumers.

The issue of food deserts — communities without access to fresh foods and produce — is no longer the elephant in the room for U.S. cities. Thanks to a considerable amount of advocacy and media attention, fueled in recent months by the Obama administration’s focus on the problem, municipalities all over are finding creative ways to increase the delivery of healthy foods to the people who arguably need them most.

Supermarkets are key partners in this process. Wegmans, for one, sells produce at cost to Syracuse’s Farm Fresh Mobile Market and offers access to its network of local farmers. Modeled after a similar effort in Oakland, Calif., the Mobile Market makes a dozen stops each week throughout the city and accepts food stamps, as well as EBT cards and WIC funds. Hen House Market in Kansas City, meanwhile, has taken a similar step, partnering with local growers’ co-op Good Natured Family Farms to hold inner-city farmers markets.

One of the most interesting new programs is Baltimore’s “virtual supermarket”. Customers can order fresh foods online, and then collect them after they’re delivered to a local library.

This and other programs are far from perfect, however. MORE…

Over the past 13 years of writing about supermarkets, I’ve been witness to a good number of well-meaning but poorly executed promotions.

My personal favorite was the day a popular (but now defunct) regional chain here in the Northeast introduced a new mascot to customers. The event was heavily promoted, so the turnout was large — lots of families, which was the idea, since we all know that young kids love furry, colorful characters.

When the big moment came, out stepped this Frankenstein-like creation of what appeared to be a humanoid made of various food groups (“What’s with the cheese wedges?”). As it lurched onto the stage (a stiff, new costume), several children cowered and the applause was… polite. This was not a friendly, approachable mascot. This was something you wanted to run from.

Needless to say, the creation didn’t last long. Which brings us to the most recent example of this phenomenon at work: A Safeway store in Kirkland, Wash., recently erected a large, bright sign promoting a farmers’ market event in the parking lot.

The problem is, there were no farmers at this market. The store was just promoting what was basically a huge, outdoor display of regular, conventional produce.

Having a farmers’ market with no farmers is not only misleading, it runs afoul of a Washington state law that defines a farmers’ market as one with five or more farmers present. The discrepancy was called out by none other than the manager for a nearby farmers’ market, who happened to be driving by and saw Safeway’s sign. MORE…

Spartan Stores announced that it was expanding the Michigan’s Best program it started last year to support home state farmers, processors and manufacturers. The expanded program kicked off Fourth of July weekend in nearly 100 Spartan-owned stores under the Family Fare, D&W Fresh Market, Felpausch, Glen’s, Glen’s Fresh Marketplace, and VG’s banners, as well as 250 independent grocery stores it services in Michigan.

The fact that it’s Michigan we’re talking about means the program has definite economic undertones. This isn’t local for local’s sake – Spartan promotes Michigan’s Best as a significant booster to the state’s ailing economy (from April 2006 to May 2010, Michigan consistently reported the highest unemployment rate in the country; Nevada recently beat it out by 0.4%. Michigan’s most recent number stands at 13.6%).

“Buying local helps keep Michigan residents employed,” Alan Hartline, Spartan’s executive vice president of merchandising and marketing, stated in a news release. “It also benefits communities by boosting the local and state economy by creating more jobs.”

He goes on to say that local products such as fresh fruits and vegetables are healthier options because they can be on the shelves within hours of being picked.

“Local products also have lower food miles, meaning they are shipped shorter distances, which requires less gas and is better for the environment,” he added.

But make no mistake – in this case, “local” means jobs. The news release cites statistics from the Michigan Department of Agriculture showing that, if each family in Michigan started spending $10 per week of their grocery bill on Michigan products, “we would keep more than $37 million in Michigan, each week.” MORE…

There’s plenty of demand for locally raised meat and poultry, and enough farmers willing to supply it. So what’s the problem? The problem is that grisly middle step: the slaughterhouse. Consumers prefer not to think about the stunning, killing and carving of the animals they eat — but with a shortage of processing options for small-scale farmers, they may soon have to.

Having too few regional slaughtering facilities has been a problem for years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the industry, has updated its standards to the point where small processors are now required to follow the same protocol as large-scale operations. The compliance is costly, and that means limited options. The Hudson Valley region of New York, whose farmers provide much of the free-range meat and poultry that Manhattanites love to nosh on, has only four facilities. Those who can’t get a time slot often end up traveling to conventional slaughterhouses in surrounding states, thus defeating the purpose of “locally raised”.

Now, in light of recent foodborne outbreaks, the Obama administration has proposed changes to the safety plan, known as the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, or HACCP. Officials claim the changes are minor, but small producers and processors are claiming the opposite is true. They point to a regulation that would require facilities to conduct microbial testing.

“Perhaps a large plant slaughtering 5,000 animals per day can afford its own lab and microbiology staff, and can pass the cost along to the consumer, but most small plants can’t,” writes Joe Cloud, co-owner of True & Essential Meats, which processes animals in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley region, in a column for The Atlantic MORE…

I love eating at Chipotle Mexican Grill. For a fast-food place, it’s tough to beat on several points: The menu is simple, the quality consistently good and the price fair. No Dollar Deal Menu here. Just solid performing Mexican-inspired fare that basically comes wrapped in a burrito or as a salad.

The chain, based in Denver, Colo., has always been keen on sourcing ingredients in a sustainable manner. The proteins are from ethically treated animals and the produce is sourced from local farms whenever possible. Just this week, the company announced an ambitious goal. It wants to have 50% of the produce items it uses — primarily lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and onions — come from local farms, up from 35% last year.

Chipotle defines “local” as anything within a 250-mile radius of its distribution centers, though it points out that most products are sourced with a 150-mile radius.

That’s how Chipotle defines local. What about supermarkets? It just so happens that those unstoppable number crunchers at the USDA’s Economic Research Service issued a report on local foods, a much-needed update that will hopefully guide the food industry in moving towards a common definition of local. MORE…

Even if you’re lucky enough and can grill outdoors all year, the month of May is the kick-off for the rest of us. For the registered dietitian, especially one practicing in a supermarket setting, this is the time of year when we look around for ways to make outdoor cooking more nutritious. We’ll start playing up locally grown produce and some great seasonal foods. Healthy and good eating abounds!

This is also a time when our seafood and produce specialists are willing to team up and host taste tests, recipe demos and special displays that bring healthy eating to the top of the menu. So where do we start?

• Think safe grilling. Customers might be a little rusty from winter, so remind them of the basics. Equip them with meat thermometers. Explain the need to keep fat from dripping onto hot coals. Discuss the merits of grilling and keeping food from burning. There’s a lot of cross merchandising opportunities to promote safety while selling them the food they’ll be cooking.

• Look to produce for some great grilling foods. Right now, there’s fresh asparagus, Vidalia or other sweet onions, and some old favorites like tomatoes, zucchini, and green and red bell peppers. Emphasize organic and locally grown whenever possible. MORE…

The U.S. Census is almost wrapped up and the counting will soon begin in earnest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is doing its own counting in 2010, but the constituents are a bit different. Instead of canvassing neighborhoods, the USDA is counting farmer’s markets.

The results will become part of an annual catalogue that’s a revealing snapshot of America’s love affair with fresh food — and provides supermarkets a valuable inside look at how this competing format is performing.

“For the future of sound farmer market policies, it is critical to make the USDA National Farmers Market Directory as accurate as possible,” said Rayne Pegg, administrator for the agency’s Agricultural Marketing Service, said in a promotional statement. “USDA can’t do it alone, and we ask for assistance in compiling this directory.”

The government has been tracking farmer’s markets since 1994, and at last count, there were nearly 5,000 of them operating all around the country. As any retailer will tell you, these venues are tough to compete with. Nothing satisfies the current consumer desire to connect with their sources of food like a farmer’s market, where farmers themselves bring their own product to sell, directly to the consumer. MORE…

It’s that time again. A winter of planning, meetings and logistics has brought us around again to another season of local foods, much of which is just now hitting store shelves.

In produce there might be strawberries or asparagus; there’s also more honey and dairy and meat, now that the spring blooms are out and livestock can get their fill of fresh pastureland.

Local has become a big draw for retailers of all sizes. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest food retailer, says that 20% of its produce, in season, is local; Whole Foods Market spends 22% of its produce budget sourcing local fruits and vegetables. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, local food sales are expected to reach $7 billion by 2012, up from $5 billion in 2007.

The growth of locally grown foods seems to be following the same path taken by organics after the USDA implemented the National Organic Program in 2002; that is, demand quickly outstripped demand.

However, unlike organic, the local movement can’t make up for shortfalls in ingredients of products by heading overseas. So, retailers, producers and the matchmakers in between are stuck trying to work out a system that is efficient, safe and profitable.

According to a new article to be published in the next issue of the Choices, the online magazine of the Agricultural Applied Economics Association, mainstream supermarket growth will depend on the farmer’s ability to meet consumer expectations of quality and price. MORE…

Ever since the launch of LocalHarvest back in 1998, the local food movement has positively blossomed online. The success of that site, which connects consumers with growers in their area, helped spawn others like it as well as buy-direct online farmer markets like Foodzie and Goodapples.org.

And now, the trend has taken a turn towards retailers and restaurateurs, who have worked hard over the past couple years to source locally. FoodHub, which launched in January, is an online forum connecting growers and food buyers throughout the northwest. It’s like a craigslist for the local food world — members pay a $100 annual fee, which sets up a profile and grants access to forums where growers and buyers link up.

Most useful, perhaps, is a search tool that helps buyers find exactly what they’re looking for. Type in “sweet potatoes”, “raspberries” or “rutabaga” to find the folks that grow them.

Or “pickles”, which one recent poster is currently craving.

We currently go through approximately 30 gallons of dill pickles and I would like to source out a local and more creative pickle to offer our customers at our 4 locations around Portland.

Pretty neat, huh? For supermarkets, a tool like this could be a real leg-up. Buyers want to source local, but they often don’t have the time or know-how to establish relationships with area growers. MORE…