Local goods on shelves
Grocers, farmers work together to bring produce to consumersBy Patrick Cooley, pcooley@mariettatimes.com
Besides being available at farms, produce stands and the River City Farmers Market, locally grown produce makes its way onto the shelves of area grocery stores.
"Food-4-Less, IGA, they've been great buyers. Giant Eagle (in Marietta) has a partnership with Grimm's Green Acres," said Eric Barrett, agriculture educator at the Ohio State University Extension office in Marietta.
According to The Associated Press, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to purchase and sell $400 billion worth of produce grown by farmers in the regions near their stores this year, but Barrett said that hasn't happened here.
"None of our local growers are selling to Wal-Mart," he said. "(Wal-Mart) is buying from the 500- to 1,000-acre farms.
"What's been happening in the past 10 to 15 years is local farmers have been scaling back and moving to direct marketing and selling to local chains," Barrett said.
In the 1990s, Barrett said, many local farmers would sell their goods at vegetable terminals in Pittsburgh and Columbus.
"They would take their produce there, and they would get back a check," he said. "But they found the checks they were receiving weren't very timely, and the terminal was setting the price. With direct marketing, you set the price."
Barrett said the farmers market coming to prominence in the late '90s also helped goods stay local.
Bucky Lee, manager of Food-4-Less, said 80 percent of the vegetables they sell this time of year come from local farmers.
"We get local growers delivering almost daily," he said. "It saves shipping costs and gives us a fresher, better product. It helps local growers, and our customers would prefer having something locally grown rather than something that's shipped in."
Lee said certain fruits, such as pineapples and bananas, have to be shipped in because they aren't grown locally.
"We like to sell as much as we can on the farm here," said Andy Grimm, one of the owners of Grimm's Green Acres, which specializes in apples and also sells peaches. "But production has been a lot more than what we've been selling on the farm."
He said their partnership with Giant Eagle gives them a market for what they don't sell on the farm.
"The revenue is a little higher when we sell here on the farm," Grimm said. "The wholesaler at Giant Eagle takes their cut."
He estimates that 30 percent of their produce will go to Giant Eagle this year.
Many farmers said the trend recently is that customers want more locally grown fruits and vegetables.
Jay Huck, a Devola farmer who grows potatoes, sweet corn and peppers, said approximately 75 percent of what they sell ends up in stores in Washington County and the surrounding area.
"The downside is you're selling a smaller quantity (when you sell locally)," he said. "You try to get a little bit more than you would if you're selling to a wholesaler."
