By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

SOMERSET, Ky. — For many, buying groceries at large supermarkets, or “big box” stores, is common. But for consumers in tune with the local food movement, it may be the last place they expect to find homegrown food.

That may be true in several cases but the biggest of the big box stores is stepping up its efforts to put local food on its shelves. Tim Tarter, a farmer from Pulaski County, is happy to accommodate Walmart.

Last month, the retail giant announced a plan to increase its commitment to buying locally with a goal of $1 billion in food sourced from one million small and medium farmers by the end of 2015. Tarter is aware of the company’s desire to find local produce, but his relationship with Walmart didn’t just recently begin.

He has been selling his herbs to the store for a decade, starting as a way to help offset the decline in the tobacco market. He said it was through the Kentucky Proud marketing initiative that many producers found a home for their goods in the corporation.
“Buyers and consumers especially in the regional area are recognizing and looking for those products, which is the greatest thing in the world for us,” said Tarter. “Consumer demand drives this, and I think a lot of the managers of the Walmart stores are recognizing the quality of our Kentucky Proud products.”

Tarter began using greenhouses originally built to grow tobacco plants as a way to start his herb business.

“I got into this like so many farmers, with the tobacco industry going down and looking for alternative markets to offset our cash flow,” he said.

Today he grows seven varieties of herbs that are distributed through Walmart’s London, Ky., Distribution Center (DC). The DC sends products out to approximately 100 stores, many of which are located in the central part of the state.

Besides the help he has received from Kentucky Proud, Tarter credits a couple of things with turning his new business into his number-one cash crop: one is the expansion of the London DC, which began with 40 stores, and the other is increased demand for fresh herbs.

“Our business is probably 10 times what it was when we began. This has been a great opportunity for me in that aspect. We keep making improvements and changes in the way we grow herbs,” he said.

Tarter added as his business has grown he has learned to adapt to the Walmart way of doing business by buying more in volume and working smarter to become more productive.

“In our situation, we are very happy with the price (Walmart works on an agreed price for the produce it buys). Obviously, for what they are paying us, it is a better value for them and fresher produce than they can get in California or from overseas,” he said.
Tarter emphasized there are other places to buy local commodities, such as farmers’ markets, which he likes. But, he can’t sell enough at those venues to make up for the losses incurred in the tobacco market, he said. Walmart has provided the mass market he needs.
Tarter also said what he is doing is something all farmers could do, but today’s farmers have to become salespeople and marketers as well as producers.

“I’m no different than the average farmer out there. There is nothing special about me or my operation and I’m not doing anything that any other farmer in the state of Kentucky can’t do, but you have to be aggressive and you have to figure out which area you want to go into,” he explained.

As the need and desire for local goods increases – and Kentucky farmers hope that trend continues – giant corporations like Walmart could become major players in the “buy local” movement. Last month, at the company’s Sustainability and Milestone meeting, company President and CEO Mike Duke and Leslie Dach, executive vice president of Corporate Affairs, made the announcement about increasing its commitment to buying locally.
Kory Lundberg, a spokesman for Walmart, said the policy will affect all 16 countries in which the company has a presence and specifically in the United States, it will mean a doubling of the amount of locally-sourced produce sold in its stores.

“We’ve done this program for several years, but the commitment was to really accelerate and broaden (it) and put a special focus on growing the amount of local produce that we have, and growing the number of local farmers that we source from, as well,” he said.
Lundberg added that bringing low-cost fresh local produce to customers, helping farmers become more successful and contributing to the betterment of the environment were key areas of concern, but there are global issues to confront, as well.
“With some of the biggest challenges facing the world – poverty, hunger, resource management and population growth – all of that really ties into food and having food available,” he said. “Walmart really saw this as an opportunity where it could make a big, positive difference not just in the U.S. but globally, and so that’s why we are making such a commitment to this.”