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LI supermarkets agree to buy more local produce

By Ellen Yan | ellen.yan@newsday.com

11:07 PM EDT, July 21, 2008

Long Island's biggest chain of supermarkets, which includes A&P-owned Waldbaum's and Pathmark, has agreed to buy "substantially more" local produce to keep shipping costs down and nearby farms alive.

Shoppers pushing their carts through the doors of the Jericho Waldbaum's were greeted yesterday by A&P executives, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other local officials waving around locally grown green squash.

Crates of vegetables, from corn to peppers, were adorned with "Grown on Long Island" placards, signs expected to be a mainstay from now on in the produce sections also of Super Fresh and The Food Emporium.

"Because of the economic situation, we felt that the more we stay close to home, the better we'll be able to keep prices as low as they can possibly be," said Sal Baio, vice president of A&P's Fresh Department. "We're listening to our consumers. They're looking for sustainability, they're looking for products that are grown closer to home, and where that's available, we're right there with them."

Last month's outbreak of salmonella-tainted tomatoes prompted shoppers to think more about where their food comes from, as federal officials confess it's difficult to track the source of infection because produce often changes hands several times before reaching stores.

At the same time, the buy-local movement has been growing, fed by rising fuel prices and the environmental impact of trucking wares from long distances.

King Kullen has been buying local produce for more than 10 years. The grocer said it has exclusive agreements with certain farms and buys out of the region when demand exceeds Long Island production.

All this may spell better times for Long Island's farming sector, which in the past three decades has gone from 33,000 acres of farmland to about 15,000 acres and lost 200 of its 300 crop farms, according to the Long Island Farm Bureau.

"We take pride in our food, but sometimes it seems like we're at the bottom of the food chain," said Philip Schmitt, owner of a 180-acre farm in Riverhead.

Schumer, who helped to close the agreement July 1, called the local program a victory in many ways: "It'll be picked the night before and be right on the shelves the next morning. It's a win for America because we'll have less imported goods and more made in America."