Walmart To Launch Sustainable Farming Initiatives And Looks To Iowa Farmers For Ideas

Walmart plans to launch initiatives that will promote sustainable, environment-friendly agriculture and double sales of locally grown food by 2015. Seeking to improve soil quality and conserve water and fossil fuels, the retailer has visited farms in Iowa to learn about sustainable farming practices that it could incorporate into its programs. Agriculture groups are closely watching the company’s efforts, which, considering the company’s leadership role in retail, can have significant implications for the country’s farming sector. Meanwhile, environmentalists and sustainability proponents want to know whether Walmart will go far enough with its proposed sustainable-farming standards, which are being developed through the Sustainability Consortium, an organization that counts several agribusiness companies as members. Ultimately, Walmart wants to develop a means of measuring products’ impact on the environment, which would help guide consumers in choosing sustainable goods.