• New York Times, Friday, October 15, 2010 8:52 AM

Environmental advocates are generally applauding Wal-Mart's plans to invest in training and infrastructure for small and medium-size farmers and to buy and sell more locally grown food, Stephanie Clifford reports. Given the size of Wal-Mart's footprint, however, some wonder how it is going to pull it off, or are disappointed in details that were not addressed, such as goals around organic foods.

"No other retailer has the ability to make more of a difference than Wal-Mart," president and CEO Michael T. Duke says. "Grocery is more than half of Wal-Mart's business. Yet only 4 of our 39 public sustainability goals address food."

Wal-Mart expects to double the percentage of locally grown produce -- food grown and sold in the same state -- it sells to 9% by 2015. Among other initiatives, food will be ranked in a sustainability index that rates how efficiently it was grown and shipped.

"The index represents a real number that will mean improvement on the ground: improving ecosystem health, soil health and food quality," says Marty Matlock, a professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas, which "will move agricultural producers en masse."

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