In Food, Inc. one of the things they mention is that when you buy something at a store, you're essentially making a vote for what you want stocked in the stores. It makes perfect sense - the store's not going to stock it unless they know you're going to buy it. Going to WalMart or Kroger and buying organic whole food items tells that store "these are the items I'm buying, please stock more!"
Take that one step further:
I sometimes shop at Whole Foods, which I love. I love that they grind their own ground beef. I know when I buy it, I'm not getting a bunch of fillers. I've had food poisoning 3 times in the last 2 years, knowing what my meat goes through before it gets to my table is important. I also like that the employees there are so knowledgeable about what they sell. I can tell the meat man what I want to make, and he'll pick out the best cut of meat for me. Service like that is hard to find nowadays.
But I was thinking, Whole Foods already knows their customers like to by whole foods. (Hence the name, dummy) What about the big chains like Kroger and Walmart? A representative from Walmart said on Food, Inc. that they stock what their customers buy. So in essence, buying organic at large chains like Kroger and WalMart may actually make an impact on what their stores carry, therefore increasing the selection and availability of whole organic foods to all the customers that shop at these stores. People who shop at Whole Foods go there for a reason - they care about what they eat. But by encouraging the large chain grocery stores to stock more of these items, we can help make organic whole foods available to a whole new set of people. My family lives in rural Arkansas where the only grocery store for 20 miles is WalMart. If I can buy organic milk at my Walmart 150 miles away, and convince other people to do so, I can help convince the entire company to carry organic milk in other locations - making organic milk available to my family in rural Arkansas. Big chains like WalMart are successful for a reason: they sell what people like to buy. If we tell them we like to buy organic whole foods, they'll sell it.
Let's take this ANOTHER step further:
By purchasing more organic and whole foods at the large chains, the large chains now carry more organic and minimally processed items - therefore increasing the demands on the farmers and manufacturers that supply these stores. So we have beef farmer A that grows cows that are fed with corn and pumped full of antibiotics, and beef farmer B who grows cows that are grown organically. Over time, if people are buying more organic beef from large chains, beef farmer B is going to become incredibly successful. So beef farmer A (if he's smart) will also want to jump on the bandwagon and grow his cows organically. So we now have HUGE changes in the farming industry. Less E Coli, less food poisoning, and the people of the world skip down the streets holding hands and singing "We Are The World." Well, maybe not that. But you get my point. Me buying organic milk at Kroger may actually make a huge impact down the line.
This is not rocket science, it's basic business principles. Supply and demand, people. Demand organic and whole foods from our grocers, and they will supply it.
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