Whole Foods Market

[Chantal]

Coming to a town near you...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main. ... ont105.xml

[submariner]

Not convinced, Chantal. I will still buy Welsh if available or British when ever possible. These stores have so much produce that it must ship from all over the world, and to me that doesn't sound local, far from it!

[alan refail]

Not to a town near here, I can assure you
Whatever his lies, he sounds a typical money-mad American windbag. Sorry, I like to keep my language temperate, but this had me over the roof.

Alan

[beefy]

Sounds like someone is finally going to take the big 4 on at last.Be pepared for even lower prices and farmers and growers being screwed even further.Your going to get a wider choice no doubt about it.Wether or not its a good thing - thats another question.

[Chantal]

Did I say I liked the idea? The thought of this sort of supermarket taking business from all the Farmers' Markets etc absolutely horrifies me. Then another part of me thinks that people will eat more veg etc which is a good thing.

[beefy]

When the likes of Tesco etc post profits of £2.6 billion you have to expect that others are going to look and say "I want a piece of that"
As to trucking the food from all over Europe its happening already.Lidl and Aldi buy where its cheapest and sell it cheap to you but with a good profit margin for themselves.
Anyone who thinks they can stop this crowd coming will be laughed at when they start spouting the organic ,good ethics good food clean living speel.According to the article Tescos are running about trying to sign up growers and suppliers to some sort of exclusive contract where they only supply them.Sounds like self protection of the profits to me and thats the worring part.

[seedling]

I read the article on saturday and was horrified. Its going to be an "Organic Walmart" with stuff flown in from all over the world just to satisfy the trendy consumer market. Profit orientated and pricing farmers out of the organic market as the big four do to non-organic farme already.
God help us .
seedling

[Malk]

Once again I have to apologise for my birth-nation. You really shouldn't let us in. Manifest destiny and all that, we'll just steam roll over everything else.

sounds awful - an organic walmart. I sometimes miss the ability to be able to get anything you want in the States at almost anytime, but then I realise what that means, food shipped from all over the world, migrant workers being paid less than minimum wage to make the cheap ubiquitous products we crave and it makes me feel a bit sick.

[Cider Boys]

Leading: Organic no longer means what it originally did to consumers, so Whole Foods plans to "lead the charge" into the next phase, calling it "beyond organic". The buzz-words: local, ethical, sustainable and humane

'Beyond Organic' - sounds good to me!

Barney

[longpod]

Last year I was horrified, when I watched the Farmers arrive at a local Supermarket with a lorry laden with melons, and they proceeded to tip the melons out in front of the doors of the Supermarket, because the Supermarket was selling foreign melons. There was also the occasion last year when the Vineyard owners stopped tankers ladened with Spanish wine, and tipped them up on the motorway, because they did not want foreign wine in the Country. Meat Farmers, walk into Supermarkets and point out that there is 'foreign' meat in the Store, I don't expect most of the French have tasted Welsh Lamb, English Pork sausages, Scottish Beef, and on principal probably would not like it, because they are totally patriotic or insular?? I am not saying that this is right, I just wish that in the UK we supported home grown/made/created talent more, very much more. I wish the Farmers and local producers in the UK were able to stand up to the big Supermarkets. In France most of the French would not consider buying food/wine/cheese/cars etc if it was not French, most of them holiday in France, so all their Euros stay in France.

[Johnboy]

I read the article last Saturday and wondered what the Soil Association thinks of it but to date they have been silent!
The Green Dream seems to be about selling food sensibly whether Organic or conventional. Whether I like the thought of an American Company and possibly American Produce being flown across the Atlantic to supply us quite frankly appalls me.
I feel that a similar system has just been opened in Ludlow, Shropshire and I can tell you the prices are sky high. The scheme has been set up by a local land owner, a Peer of the Realm, who managed to get planning consent for a purpose built building and car parking places for about a 100 cars right in the middle of green belt land. It is said to have cost him about two and a quarter million ponds to set it up. Now this is either going to be bought out by The Green Dream people or it might fail.
I did note that an Organic Wholemeal Loaf was £1.85. which is a bit PTT.
According to the laws of this land they must sell organic produce under the Soil Association or one of the other Accreditors rules. I just wonder how this is going to work! I cannot see the Green Dream paying massive fees to the SA but it would be unfair if they were allowed to get away with the slightest infringement of the rules that everybody else has to abide by.
Time will tell.
The chances of the Ludlow Farmer's Market continuing are in doubt.
JB.