Responding to criticisms levelled at Whole Foods Markets by author Michael Pollan in his book ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey said that despite the company’s phenomenal success it remains committed to furthering the cause of local, small-scale, organic and ethical production.
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In an open letter to Pollan, Mackey distanced the Fortune 500 company from “industrialised organic” and “big organic” labels. “Whole Foods Market has done more to advance the natural and organic foods movement in general and local organic growers and artisanal food producers specifically than any other business currently operating in North America,” Mackey claims.
Whole Foods is widely recognised as a trailblazer for the natural and organic movements in the US. The company supports small-scale local production wherever possible, Mackey asserted, outlining a number of pioneering new and planned initiatives that highlight the chain’s commitment to small-scale ethical organic production.
In contrast to most national and international retailers, Whole Foods Markets operates a decentralised organisation where different regions (and even stores) have a high degree of local autonomy – sourcing different seasonal products from local suppliers while simultaneously conforming to the company’s national quality standards.
According to data released by Whole Foods, in 2005, 45% of the company’s produce suppliers were categorised as local (within 200 miles) and 34% were regional (within 400 miles) – only 21% would fall into the category of “big organic” national producers.
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By GlobalDataIn order to boost local producers, the company said that it intends to alter the duties charged to regional buyers to favour local products. It will also establish an annual budget of US$10m to promote local agriculture through a long-term loan programme designed to “help support local agricultural entrepreneurs”.
However, Mackey continued, a retailer cannot meet customer demand whilst exclusively relying on local supply. “Our customers regularly desire products that may not be in season in many parts of the United States. Accordingly, due to such market demand, we offer the freshest, most sustainably grown products we can find on a year-round basis while also continuing to develop our relationships with local and regional producers in season,” he wrote.
In order to increase consumer demand for locally produced food, Whole Foods’ regional and store marketing teams will take responsibility for “communicating and educating our customers about locally produced products. Some of our marketers are already doing this, but company-wide we are not doing nearly enough to tell the stories of our local producers,” Mackey announced.
Whole Foods is also in the process of creating animal compassion standards designed to combat the poor conditions indicative of factory farming methods. “To help facilitate both research and the conversion of conventional animal farm over to more compassionate livestock operations, Whole Foods Market created the Animal Compassion Foundation,” Mackey said, adding that the company has already donated US$1.3m to this cause in the past two-years. The company said that it will be hiring its first “animal compassionate” field buyer, who will be responsible for developing relationships with suppliers who meet the company’s prescribed animal welfare standards.
