Wegmans, a 71 store supermarket chain based out of Rochester has began to sell produce grown locally at their 50 acre organic farm.  The farm is in it's first year of production and as it sits on land that has been fallow for a number of years, organic certification is not yet complete. As the company awaits certification through Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York - likely to be completed within a few months, the fresh produce they are currently producing is labeled as organically grown and not organic. Wegmans estimates that it will be approximately three years before the organic research farm is fully operational and profitable.   

"Taste, freshness, support for local economy, confidence in knowing where the food comes from are all factors that come into play, as well as cost. It costs less for grocers to transport local food," Bill Greer, communications director for the Food Marketing Institute trade association, told the Star-Gazette.

So what inspired Wegmans to grow locally and organically?

Danny Wegman credits the idea of growing natural and organic foods to his older daughter, Colleen, who is now president of the company. Wegman advised that when Colleen graduated from University he encouraged her to take a few months off to ski. She however chose to work six days a week at a natural foods store and then successfully persuaded the Wegman company to luanch its Nature's Marketplace departments.

However, the organic farm arose accidentally. The Wegmans were interested in building a 44 foot high, 7,200 square foot structure and when they sought out a permit they were advised that due to the size of the proposed structure a permit would only be granted for a barn to be used for agricultrual use. And so the organic research farm arose. The farm is actually owned by Stency and Danny Wegman who rent it out to the Wegman company which oversees its management.

But will the organic farm make a profit?

The farm should be quite profitable as it falls within two booming sectors of the food industry: organic food and locally grown food. Organic foods have been rising in popularity for several years and The Organic Trade Association reports that sales of organic foods has increased between 15 to 20 percent since 1997. In 2005 alone, organic foods reached $14 billion in sales. Similarly, local foods are increasing in popularity according to Packaged Facts, a market research company that estimates there has been a 20 percent increase in local foods sales since 2002, with predicted sales of $5 billion in 2007.

The boom in the local foods market is a result of customers becoming aware of the "food miles" - the total distance that produce travels before consumption. The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service has estimated that some food travels up to 2000 miles prior to consumption such as grapes from China and asparagus from Argentina. As well, positive attention has been drawn to locally grown foods due to tainted food scandals, such as the tainted pet food from China.

We at Change predict that the Wegman's organic farm will be popular and profitable and would encourage other companies to follow their example. It is Wegmans expectation that their model of business will be a model for others. As Wegman told Karen Miltner of the Gannett's Star-Gazette newspaper, "If it's [research farm] not profitable, it's not much of a model. So that's our real goal, to establish organic growing practices so we can share with others. It has to be profitable; otherwise no one could do it".  

Perhaps in a few years we will see all major grocery chains with their own organic farms and providing local grown foods. Imagine the taste and freshness of our produce then.

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