LI supermarkets agree to buy more local produce

I grew up on Long Island and spent most of my life there before I moved a few years ago. I used to love driving out East and buying fresh produce from the various stands along the way.

I think this is a GREAT idea and I hope the rest of the country follows suit.

Agriculture and other food production will become more local as increased fuel costs will make shipping food long distances economically unfeasible. The whole idea of globalization which also applies to food can only work with an unlimited cheap fuel suppy. If you live in the desert or in a place where you have to get your water or food shipped to you, tough times are coming your way.

Good job Senator Hairplug.

any idiot could of thought of that, proves shuman is an idiot

I hope this will preserve the farmland on L.I.
Why put houses on good dirt?

THIS IS ALL JUST HYPE. They have been buying from LI farms all along. Are we to believe that they are NOW buying more from LI to be cost effective? I'm sure they have been buying the most cost effective way all along whether it be from LI or somewhere else.

The produce still has to be shipped off LI to an upstate warehouse - they make it sound like its coming right from the farm to the store. This is just a PR gimmick.

A&P closed its local produce warehouses a few years ago - Edison, Carteret and Hunts Point. I believe C&S is now doing their warehousing and I think it is in either Chester or Newburg NY.

I don't believe anything they say.

What a brain storm !
Do they think ?

a great idea, ive been growing my own for a while!

Well it's about time. We have plenty of produce and it's better than that contaminated garbage.

note: King Kullen has been buying locally grow produce all along

Have been buy ONLY local from King Kullen for years.

Mexico has a sanitation problem and their water is contaminated,

When local produce is not available, I buy only Canadian,,,,,have more faith in them then south of the border, plus there's never a warning about drinking their water when travelling up there!!!!!

If King Kullen has been buy local for so long, how come they seem to be more expensive than the other chains?

Yes, it is all a PR stunt. They're a business, it's what they do.

It is better to buy direct from the farms. Fresher and you know the money is going right to the source.

Wonder what Produce Pete think about all this?

Everyone
Lets remember one thing. These supermarks giants are not "Buying Local" because they here their customers. They are buying local because it will cost less to ship local. They do not and never thought twice about helping the local ecomony. ITS THE BOTTOM LINE is all they are concerned about

I hope none of you are eating citrus fruits, bananas etc. Get real. Variety is more important than local.

_Melissa _ wrote:

If King Kullen has been buy local for so long, how come they seem to be more expensive than the other chains?
Yes, it is all a PR stunt. They're a business, it's what they do.
It is better to buy direct from the farms. Fresher and you know the money is going right to the source.
Wonder what Produce Pete think about all this?

That's exactly what my wife says.

This week at Waldbaum's/Deer Park locally grown Spinach is 99 cents a bunch,try to purchase some, everytime we go they did not have and just give us a raincheck, and some items you can have a rc for they seem to never get! Also years ago locally grown items were cheaper,does not seem that way now. In the 80's you could buy a 50 lb bag of potatoes for like $5,those days are gone!

Johnny B Good wrote:

<quoted text>
That's exactly what my wife says.

I agree!!!!!!!

Jay,

They closed the Central Islip warehouse too at the end of March 2008 and put a lot of people on the unemployment line for nothing. A&P could have easily afforded to keep the warehouse open as could C&S, but they didn't.

I read that C&S is now warehousing in Pennsylvannia and Connecticut and using cheap non-union labor.

By the way for anybody who doesn't know, C&S is the company that does the warehousing and shipping for A&P, Pathmark, Waldbaums and Target.

Jay wrote:

The produce still has to be shipped off LI to an upstate warehouse - they make it sound like its coming right from the farm to the store. This is just a PR gimmick.
A&P closed its local produce warehouses a few years ago - Edison, Carteret and Hunts Point. I believe C&S is now doing their warehousing and I think it is in either Chester or Newburg NY.