Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Wal-Mart as a Force for Sustainable Agriculture?
The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about Wal-Mart's participation in a forum about sustainable agriculture. I found one paragraph of particular interest:
The company is requiring shrimp farms that have been ravaging the coast of Thailand to change their aquaculture practices or lose the retailer's business. Under the company's new rules, the shrimp farms must be certified by Global Aquaculture Alliance or Aquaculture Certification Council as being farmed in environmentally sound ways, he said.Now, part of this may be public relations, but there's no doubt that the company has forced many of its suppliers into changing their business practices. Many of these vendors have even said that the changes helped them enormously in improving their businesses. Wal-Mart literally could single-handedly change the face of world food production, making a far bigger impact than any Whole Foods could.
Labels: organic, shrimp, sustainability, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods
