Wal-Mart buy local push may lack impetus here

WASILLA — While local Walmart officials and growers are hailing a corporate decision announced last week to boost the amount of local produce in Walmart, there’s skepticism it will make a big impact here.

Walmart announced last week it will double sales of locally sourced produce, by the end of 2015 selling $1 billion in food sourced from 1 million small and medium farmers.

“Through sustainable agriculture, Walmart is uniquely positioned to make a positive difference in food production — for farmers, communities and customers,” said Mike Duke, Walmart president and chief executive officer, in the Oct. 14 press release.

Alaska producers agree Walmart can play a big role in boosting local food consumption here, but they questioned whether Walmart’s six Alaska stores will be lost in the 8,400 Walmart-affiliated retail outlets worldwide.

It is a challenge, conceded Wasilla store manager Terry Voorhees and Mike Crane, shift manager, but one they said they and corporate officials are rising to meet. Voorhees said he is looking at ways to bring more local vegetables to his store’s shelves.

“We’re trying to go with Alaska Grown,” Voorhees said. “The more we get up here, the fresher it is and there’s greater shelf life.”

That, Voorhees said, translates to quality for the consumer.

“Our customers love the Alaska Grown products,” Crane added. “Any time we can, we try to push Alaska Grown products.”

Logisitics are the key, said Paul Huppert, head of Palmer Produce, a Butte-based vegetable distribution company that markets produce for the Hupperts’ and other family farms. So far, Huppert said, there seems to be a disconnect between what local store officials want and what they get.

“They want to sell local stuff but they never cut off shipping it in,” Huppert said. “There’s very little room for the local stuff.”

Huppert said he’s talked to Walmart officials in Bentonville, Ark., and the regional distribution center in Reno, Nev., and called them “nice people,” but said the problem doesn’t seem to get fixed.

“It never seems to get down to the ordering level,” Huppert said.

Huppert said potatoes are a good example. The Alaska Walmarts were well stocked with Outside potatoes as Alaska farmers were digging this year’s bounty.

Crane confirmed the Wasilla store was fully stocked with Idaho potatoes this fall. To make room for the Alaska spuds, they put potatoes on sale.

“We try to support the farmers the best we can,” Crane said. He acknowledged the ordering system, which uses the same PLU (price look-up) code for a bag of local potatoes or a bag of Idaho tubers, sometimes leads the Reno warehouse to ship out items when there are Alaska items available. Once the order goes through, there’s no stopping it. It’s on a barge and northward bound.

“Walmart’s new at being this far from a distribution center,” Crane said. He said some of the safeguards the corporation put in place are not good mechanisms. “They’re trying to correct them.”

Even when Alaska’s short-season summer vegetables are readily available, Alaska Walmarts may receive full shipments of similar produce grown in other states and nations.

Huppert said this past summer, the Walmarts in Kenai and Fairbanks didn’t buy any cabbage, lettuce or other summer greens from Palmer Produce.

“They kept shoving it in from Outside,” Huppert said.

It’s frustrating, said Amy Pettit, development specialist and Alaska Grown marketing program director for the Alaska Division of Agriculture.

Pettit said efforts to get Alaska Walmarts to join the Eat Local Challenge in August fell flat because it was during Walmart’s back-to-school promotion.

Pettit said Walmarts won’t use Alaska Grown promotional materials provided free to grocery stores by Alaska Division of Agriculture because corporate policy requires them to generate their own signs. That’s fine, Pettit said, but she wonders if the Alaska Grown logo was used in Alaska Walmarts this year.

Pettit said despite the frustrations of working with the corporate giant, she is hopeful there will be more cooperation in the future.

“We’re hopeful Alaska Walmarts will get on board with this Buy Local effort,” Pettit said.

Voorhees said the Wasilla Walmart had a very successful Alaska Grown promotion this fall, which resulted in great sales.

“It was something that was new to us and it went over very well,” Voorhees said. “It was a success for them (customers) and us.”

Voorhees said some of the logistical issues stem from the comparative newness of grocery outlets in Alaska Walmarts. He said stores like Fred Meyer and Carrs/Safeway have well-established relationships with Alaska producers and distributors.

Huppert, Pettit and Palmer grower Ben VanderWeele agree the other food chains have had more time to cultivate a system with Alaska producers. With more people choosing Walmart as a grocery shopping destination, they say it is important for the retail leviathan to improve its local-buy program.

“There’s such an opportunity for the supermarket because the consumer is really loyal to the Alaska Grown product,” VanderWeele said. “I think if they would offer more Alaska Grown products then they would buy it.”

That’s the way Pam Bue, who sells her Pam’s Carrots through Palmer Produce, sees it as well.

“So many people shop there,” Bue said. “Consumers want to buy local and if they are shopping at Walmart … we need to be where the people are.

“I think it’s important to have local produce in all the grocery stores,” Bue said.

Voorhees, who has been in Alaska nine years working for Walmart, said his customers are looking for a good variety in their produce and for value, which often translates into quality.

“Price is always there but I think quality in produce drives the business,” Voorhees said. “Produce sets the tone for your whole store.”

He said he’s had excellent quality from Alaska Grown produce, and consumers respond to it.

“We heard a lot of compliments,” he said.

Voorhees also said he’s eager to get beyond distribution issues that sometimes leave him with vegetables shipped to the store from Outside, when there’s local product. He said he’s been pleased with local distributors’ efforts to make sure they fill his produce orders.

“I can’t remember a time when they’ve left us short,” Voorhees said.

Crane said there needs to be improved communication at both sides of the supply change, and as a former market grocery manager, he is working at fixing the glitches. He called the local producer-distributors smart businessmen and great to work with. He said Walmart has a designated person in Reno to work through the logistical problems.

“They’re going to do everything they can to help us,” Crane said.

While he lives in the corporate framework, Voorhees said there are things he can do, like this fall’s Alaska Grown promotion, that are within his purview as store manager.

“That’s something I can do at a store level,” Voorhees said.

Voorhees said he isn’t certain Wasilla Walmart will be selling 9 percent local produce by 2015, as is the goal for U.S. Walmarts. The narrow window of opportunity for most Alaska produce could make that a challenge. But, he said, they can do better.

“I think it’s a business we can really grow,” he said.