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…

Back in 2008, Greenpeace came out with its first sustainable seafood scorecard for mainstream supermarkets. Twenty companies were rated. All of them failed.

That seemed like a pretty harsh judgment at the time, but it definitely sent a message. In the proceeding two years, retailers have retooled their sourcing guidelines to rule out certain red-listed species, and to offer more options that are harvested with the health of underwater dwellers and their habitats in mind.

Greenpeace’s latest scorecard, released today, reflects these changes. Out of the same twenty that were rated, ten earned a passing score. They include Trader Joe’s, which recently ended its holdout by agreeing to source all of its seafood sustainably by 2012. Others include Wal-Mart, Safeway, Whole Foods (of course), Wegmans (of course), and taking the top spot, Target.

Target, if you’ll recall, announced earlier this year that it would stop sourcing farmed salmon, opting instead for the wild-caught Alaskan variety. That move was a first for a major supermarket retailer, and it definitely put them in Greenpeace’s good graces.

Just about every supermarket on the list has made improvements over the past two years. That shows just how important ethical sourcing is to consumers — and to retailers’ bottom lines as well, since you’re not going to turn much profit if a popular species is extinct.

Here’s hoping retailers continue to improve their sourcing. Hopefully we’ll see a couple “good” scores on next year’s report card.

Today is Earth Day, and that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To some, it’s a reason to be pessimistic; a reminder of our increasing focus on “green” consumerism, which detractors say makes people feel better about themselves but doesn’t adequately address the problems facing our environment. To others, it’s a chance to reflect on their habits and develop new ways to consume less and simplify their lives. It’s a revelation, a crock, an opportunity, and just not enough — all at once.

It definitely isn’t what it used to be. As a story in today’s New York Times points out, the first Earth Day, back in 1970, was staunchly anti-business. More than a million participants marched down New York City’s Fifth Avenue and occupied Central Park in what, during the Vietnam/Woodstock era, was more love-in than national holiday.

Now we’ve got recycling promotions by Pepsi, Chiquita’s “365 Days of Sustainability”, and a pitch from a condom company to save the polar bears by practicing birth control. Not to mention programs from just about every supermarket retailer out there. Business has become inextricably linked to the environmental movement. The question is: what’s progress, and what’s marketing hype?

This is important for retailers and manufacturers to consider. On one level, there’s the argument that consumers are growing more educated and demanding authenticity. Think about it. Would anybody have predicted ten years ago that there’d be so much animosity towards high-fructose corn syrup? Or that, with all the choice and sophisticated ordering systems and marketing behind a modern supermarket, so many consumers really just want a farmer’s market experience — a place where they can buy canvas bags and purchase local and organic products? MORE…

Trader Joe’s is a retailer that likes to do things its own way, and has enjoyed immense success because of it. From the Hawaiian shirts to the one-of-a-kind private label selection, to the plucky marketing language it employs in stores and online — there’s no mistaking the company for its competition.

A couple years ago, however, Trader Joe’s showed that it also had a stubborn side. Under pressure from the Humane Society, and despite the fact that most major retailers had made the decision already, the company refused to source cage-free eggs under its private label umbrella. It eventually relented in 2005, but has remained something of a holdout on another key issue: seafood. A recent Greenpeace scorecard ranked Trader Joe’s 17th out of 20 mainstream retailers on its sustainable seafood offerings.

Thankfully, Trader Joe’s decided not to hold out for very long. Last week on its website, the company announced that all of its seafood would come from sustainable sources by the end of 2012. It’s currently working with a third-party organizations to set goals and standards for the effort, and plans to soon include more information on seafood packaging, including species background and catch or production method.

It’s also clear — now that it’s committed — that Trader Joe’s aims to be an agent for change on the issue.

“We aim to use our purchasing power to leverage change within the seafood supply community,” the company wrote on its website. MORE…

Don’t ask me why, but 2015 has all of a sudden become the year for green transformations.

Last week, Wal-Mart said it plans to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain by 2015. It will do this by going through stores category-by-category, rooting out the products responsible for the highest carbon output, and then working with suppliers to reduce the amounts. This could mean Wal-Mart’s vendors need to revisit how they source ingredients, the way they ship their products; changing whatever process is using the most energy.

The changes could be big, and manufacturers, many of whom have worked with the retailer on its packaging scorecard, may not be enthused about Wal-Mart calling the shots like this. But Wal-Mart argues, compellingly, that such changes would put them ahead of the regulatory curve and into consumers’ good graces.

“As we help our suppliers reduce their energy use, costs and carbon footprint, we’ll be helping our customers do the same thing,” said Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, in a statement.

The Bentonville retailer has made strides with this and other efforts to tame emissions — but it’s not the most ambitious company out there. That title arguably belongs to Great Britain’s Marks & Spencer, which announced today that it aims to become the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015. MORE…

For all the attention that the organic industry gets, it’s easy to forget just how small it really is. We got a reminder earlier this week when the U.S. Department of Agriculture offered up the results from its first ever wide-scale survey of organic farming.

According to the results, less than 1% of all farms in the U.S. are organic. The survey tallied 14,540 organic farms covering 4.1 million acres of land, with total sales of $3.16 billion in 2008.

A few other interesting findings from the report:

- No surprise, California led the nation with 20% of all organic farms and 36% of total sales.

- Organic farms bring in an average of $217,675 in sales, compared to $134,807 for all other farms.

- Expenditures for organic farms are higher, however, at $171,978 per farm compared to $109,359 for other farms.

- 44% of organic farms sold their products within 100 miles from where they were grown.

- 83% of organic farm sales came from wholesale channels, 10% direct from retailers, and only 7% of sales came directly from consumers. MORE…

It’s great to see yet another retailer confronting the urgent need for sustainably sourced seafood. Today, Target announced that it will eliminate all farm-raised salmon from its stores in favor of the wild-caught Alaskan variety.

The decision came out of close consultation with the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, a widely respected organization that has established its own standards for sustainable fisheries. According to Target, the salmon farms it had previously sourced from pollute too much, leach chemicals into the environment, and allow parasites and non-native fish to disrupt surrounding habitats. Alaska’s wild-caught salmon, on the other hand, is intensively managed to protect the health of the species and the ecosystem.

“The company’s decision to address this issue represents an incredible willingness to challenge old paradigms in favor of sound science and environmental preservation, as well as provide real market value to its guests,” said Casson Trenor, a senior markets campaigner with Greenpeace, who’s been a tough critic in the past and who applauded Target’s decision.

This certainly is a big step for a major retailer. Americans have developed a big appetite for seafood, and farming operations have been able to provide supermarkets with large, reliable quantities. But, as Target aptly pointed out, there are issues with their impact on the environment — issues that have caught the eyes of many concerned shoppers. MORE…

When it comes to pesticides, potatoes are heavy hitters. They can receive up to 19 sprays in a single growing season. Farmers often spray on a weekly basis, or even more frequently to try to prevent blight. They also spray herbicides to kill the tops of the plants at the end of the growing season to make the underground tubers easier to harvest.

That’s why it’s so difficult to find organic potatoes, because the things are really tough to grow. It’s a high-value, but vulnerable, crop.

Every once in a while we hear from the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership, which was established in 1996 by the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and the University of Wisconsin. The goal has been to develop ways to minimize chemical use and promote sustainable farming. The effort has produced advances in integrated pest management, water conservation, soil protection and yields without the use of genetic modification.

In 2001, the group introduced the Healthy Grown label. In order to get it, farmers and their products are certified by Protected Harvest, an independent oversight organization created to monitor the overall effort. Healthy Grown has compiled an eight-year database tracing IPM and pesticide use, which is shared with the university and other organizations like the International Crane Foundation, the Defenders of Wildlife and the World Wildlife Fund.

“One of Healthy Grown’s greatest strengths is the collaboration between researchers, conservationists and growers,” notes A.J. Bussan, associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Healthy Grown emerged from a targeted set of specific sustainability standards, but all of us continue to challenge those standards.” MORE…

In the four years I’ve lived in New York, I’ve gotten used to buying only what I can carry home from the grocery store. Doing this is nice because its quick, because it’s good exercise, and because we waste less food. But man, sometimes I can’t help but remember fondly those days (college) when I’d load down the car with everything I needed — and didn’t need — for the week, and just drive home.

The automobile, that symbol of American independence, offers many of the conveniences and efficiencies we enjoy. And yet its excessive in so many ways as well, for ourselves and for the environment. In the down economy, Americans scrapped 14 million cars and only purchased 10 million, according to a new study by the Earth Policy Institute, leading to a 2% decline in the country’s auto fleet. That’s the first decline since World War 2.

Much of this is due to people taking advantage of the federal “Cash for Clunkers” program, and generally unburdening themselves of the financial weight that comes with owning a car. But the EPI says there’s also evidence that, particularly amongst younger consumers, people want to skip the car to help reduce emissions. It’s possible that by 2020, the institute says, we could own 10% less than the current fleet. MORE…

Give consumers some credit — they know a lot about sustainability, and they like to know when they’re shopping a store that’s doing it’s part to make the world just a little bit greener.

It’s the retailer’s job to fill them in, of course. And that’s no easy task. How do you explain the new refrigeration systems in marketing language? What about that energy-saving doohickey that heats the front doors? Do you tell them about that?

Supermarkets have been shy about talking directly to their shoppers about sustainable design. Many just put out a press release and let us do the rest. But then there are those like Food Lion that really step up. The Salisbury, North Carolina-based retailer made headlines this week by opening its first “green” store in South Carolina — but for months, ever since it broke ground on the site in July, the company has been providing construction updates and education on its website.

Click over to their dedicated page, and you’ll find an interactive menu with tips, pictures, a video, and even a quiz aimed at promoting the new store. Take the quiz to discover that the store uses 20% less energy than a typical supermarket, has LED lights in its refrigeration units, uses low-flow water systems that conserve more than 140,000 gallons of water a year, and more. Didn’t score 100%? You should be ashamed of yourself. MORE…