"Wal-Mart: America's Largest Locavore Grocer"... Wait... What?

According to a piece today on Reuters, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced plans to double its commitment to sourcing its produce from smaller farms and ones more local to their retail locations.

Yes, that Wal-Mart...

"Welcome to Wal-Mart, I'm the Backbone
 of America"

The company claims that this change to their produce inventory will constitute a $1 billion increase to their sales of foods from "emerging markets."

By utilizing their enormous presence in the American retail market to... err... market, and sell all this locally-grown produce, the big-box behemoth claims that they can carve out 9% of market share for locally-grown 'fruits and veggies.'

That's NINE PERCENT of the ENTIRE U.S. produce market.

And by doing this, the company estimates that they can create a 10-15% rise in annual income for their new vendors, independent and other small farmers.

So... let's tick these off on our virtual fingers, shall we? Better quality produce... from local farms... that will reach a staggering percentage of possible consumers and potentially revolutionize the toxic American diet... while helping farmers?

Wow.

There is so much "do-goodery" represented on our digital fingertips that our avatar is blushing.*

And it's all due to the good people at... Wal-Mart.

We know, it feels weird.

So, why is the perceived Deathstar of Small Businesses making what seems to be an altruistic economic decision?

Why is the least-trusted corporation on the globe spending capital to research and develop a plan that provides better food for more people while making more money for the most honored of nationalistic, hardworking archetypes; the independent American Farmer?

And what does it say about our culture that the descendants of "Darth Walton" are now extending their profit minded tentacles, and offering the consuming public a freshly-picked, shiny, organic, small-batch nectarine... at an affordable price?

Well, maybe it's time to consider the option that this new approach is also good business.

And we here "The Biz" don't mean that as a slight to Wal-Mart. Any company that makes more than $405 billion in revenue annually, as the company made last year (a 7% increase from 2008), and can attribute more than half of that revenue domestically to grocery sales (51%), can continue to go about business as usual without making any significant changes to their business model.

Instead of going out to small, family farms and becoming a market conduit, bringing a huge portion of the American populace a higher level of nutritious produce, Wal-Mart could have continued to shell for poor quality, mass-produced swill that they buy at wholesale discounts from faceless "AgroGiants,"and still made hundreds of billions of dollars.

But, like it or not (and frankly, why would you not?), Wal-Mart has made this five-year commitment and it's very, very impressive.

It almost makes you hope they can make it work for their bottom line...

Hey, we said "almost."

* - (ed note- we don't actaully have an avatar... yet)