Last summer, during the peak week of the Annapolis Valley strawberry season, an Atlantic Canada grocery chain ran a special on California strawberries...
Last fall, cadets training at Nova Scotia's Camp Aldershot received boxed lunches packed with apples from New Zealand--despite the fact that the camp is located only a few kilometres from Scotian Gold Co-operative, one of the Maritimes' largest apple processors.
A decade ago these bizarre realities might have gone unnoticed, but attitudes about the origin of food have begun to change, and with conscientious consumerism fueling a pervasive buy-local campaign, imported goods like these are increasingly hard to stomach.
Blame it on international movements like Slow Food, or concerns about food safety and sustainability, but as consumers continue to question the circuitous path from the ground to the grocer, local is fast becoming the new organic.
No longer synonymous with "boring", the word "local" is now seen as an endorsement of freshness and quality by eco-friendly consumers who want to save local farms and food miles at the same time.
According to Dela Erith, President of Nova Scotia Fruit Growers, marketing programs like Select Nova Scotia have raised the awareness that there are many benefits to growing a local food economy. The buy-local movement is good for producers and good for the planet, and as consumers issue increasing demands for Atlantic Canada's produce and products, stocking the grocery shelves with local foods is also good for business.
Specialty stores have long understood the business case for home grown goods. With food shoppers descending on farmers' markets in record numbers and buy-local campaigns driving a taste for Atlantic-produced items, the giants of grocery retailing have begun to pay more attention.
"Buying local is the growing wave," says Leo Glavine, Nova Scotia MLA for King's West in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. "Either grocery stores will have to go with the flow or they'll lose their market share." Sobeys purchases products from hundreds of growers and producers in communities across Atlantic Canada. Company spokesperson, Jill Thomas-Myrick says that if given a choice, the purchasing team in Stellarton, NS will always buy local-providing the local product meets key requirements of food safety, quality, supply and pricing. According to Thomas-Myrick, both by volume and dollar value, Sobeys sells more than 50 per cent of all the Atlantic Canadian produce, seafood and meat sold by Atlantic-based grocers combined. Atlantic Co-op also stocks as much locally-produced food as possible, normally selling as many as 2,000 different products that have been grown or processed in the Atlantic region. "We have a different business model," says Romeo Cormier, Manager of Public Affairs. "First we sell farmers the products to help them grow the food; then we sell our store customers the food that they grow."
Despite this natural connection, Atlantic Co-op faces many of the same obstacles that other chains experience. Supply is always an issue, partly because Atlantic Canada doesn't produce enough of some foods like beef, and partly because of our climate. "The supply of produce is over-abundant in the fall season and early winter,' says Cormier, "while in the spring and early summer we have to import our produce from warmer climates."
Consumer preferences present additional obstacles as grocery chains look at increasing their purchases of local foods. "We don't always produce what consumers want," says Peter Chapman, a Halifax consultant who works with producers and manufacturers who want to increase their sales to large centrally structured retailers. Chapman says that while the demand for root vegetables like turnip is decreasing, other products like Chinese greens are becoming more popular. The need to communicate information like this has prompted Sobeys to host a series of meetings with local growers and producers to share information about market trends and customer needs.
The bad news for "locavores" (as aficionados of local food are now known) is that produce grown close to its point of purchase may travel hundreds of kilometres to and from regional distribution centres. For example, an apple grown in Canning, NS might make the long drive to a warehouse in Moncton or Debert before taking the final tumble into a New Minas store's display of local fruit.
Shipping costs are steep, but the steeper environmental costs include air pollution, global warming, and the demise of the family farm. "I know that people question the distribution system," says Chapman, "but if every store did its own thing it would be hard to manage the flow of goods, especially for something as perishable as produce. Retailers need to have strict controls for quality. You can't do that at the back door of every individual store." "Quality control is best done centrally where inspectors are in place," agrees Jeanne Cruikshank, Atlantic vice-president of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors. Still, she acknowledges that there may be ways to increase efficiencies and says that there are some cases in which stores have opted for some direct store delivery. For instance, Atlantic Co-op has a distribution centre in Moncton, but many of its stores also buy directly from local producers. In more recent news, Sobeys has announced plans to augment the goods supplied through their distribution centre in Debert with items purchased directly on a store-by-store basis.
Stocking more local items and buying direct from the farm are both positive steps, yet there is still a not quite accurate public sense that the large chains are not doing enough.
"I don't believe that consumers recognize some products as local,' says Jeanne Cruikshank, attributing this perception at least in part to the dizzying number of logos, identities, and slogans that denote local goods. "We have approximately 42 different ways to say that things come from somewhere around here," she says.
A quick trip to three of the big four stores confirms her point. Sobeys has a "Choose Atlantic" icon that highlights regionally produced goods. The same icon appears on in-store signage that counts down the days until local products will be available in stores. At Atlantic Co-op food produced in the region is identified with special "Atlantic Produced" shelf tags. Signage reminds shoppers of the products available from the Atlantic region and helps them identify Atlantic-produced products. The Atlantic Superstore (Loblaw's) has a "Grown Close to Home" marketing campaign that does essentially the same thing.
This proliferation of local brands has prompted the Council of Atlantic Premiers to suggest devising a common logo to help grow the market together. Yet, ironically, the very word that has inspired this entire marketing movement will likely not be part of any common brand. Even now, you won't see the word "local" used by the major grocery chains. For one thing, the regulations around it are too restrictive; for another, the term is used popularly to signify everything from goods produced within a day's drive, to goods produced within an area defined by a radius of kilometres.
Whatever we call it, there is something to be said for a concept committed to saving the planet-one grocery store at a time.