I have been reading Wegman’s farm blog consistently for some weeks. Yep, a 97-year old regional supermarket group with 70 stores in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia has its own farm blog. The goal, however, is not to sell more cello packs of Earthbound baby spinach. The blog reports on news from an organic research farm started by Wegman’s three years ago.

Using land that the founders own in Canandaigua, NY, the Wegman’s organic research farm is designed to “test new varieties of fruits and vegetables and experiment with different growing methods to learn how to successfully grow organic produce in the Northeast.” The lessons learned get shared with local growers.

Wegman’s is no Sam’s Club: stores are huge, but accessible. In places like Williamsport, Wegman’s is a destination for people far and wide. It’s consistently listed as one of the “best places to work” in America by Fortune magazine (#5 last year).

And for 20 years they’ve been buying direct from local farmers who deliver right to the store.

Imagine a Different World

Now imagine if supermarket chains in this country maintained their own farms(s) and willingly shared information about how to grow food sustainably. Imagine store managers and corporate staff working in the fields one day a month.

Their connection to food, to producers and to what they make available to consumers would change—dramatically. This sounds utopian, but . . . consider that there are 200 housing projects in different states of development where farm rather than a golf course is the keystone to the project. A farm doesn’t to be large to have a huge impact. Wegman’s is finding this out. What about the folks in Bentonville?