• October 15, 2010

Walmart says it introducing a new global commitment to sustainable agriculture, doubling its sale of locally produced produce by 2015 in the U.S.

In emerging markets, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer says it will sell $1 billion in food sourced from 1 million small and medium farmers; train 1 million farmers and farm workers -- an estimated half of them women -- in sustainability practices, and increase the income of the its small and medium farmers by 10 to 15 percent.

The guidelines also say that by 2015, all its beef will follow the current practice of Walmart Brazil, sourced only from producers that do not contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. And in the same time period, it says it will eliminate all unsustainably harvested palm oil from its private-label products.