The Whole Foods corporation is no different than any other food retailing juggernaut, as far as many small farmers are concerned. It needs such high volumes of a uniform product that the company's stores are out of their reach as place to sell their crops.
Belying the company's image as no friend of small local farmers, a Whole Foods grocery store in Fair Oaks, a Virginia suburb of Washington D.C., is making its parking lot available for a farmers market every Sunday. The store, which doesn't charge the vendors anything, couldn't be happier with the arrangement, according to the Connection Newspapers, quoting Dale Stirzel, Whole Foods' assistant store team leader.
"The response has been overwhelmingly positive. People are eating produce the way it should taste — fresh, in season and at the peak of ripeness. The vendors aren't affiliated with Whole Foods and don't have to pay for their spaces or share their profits with us. But their products have to be either grown or produced on their farms. Whole Foods supports local products and likes being a place where the community meets. And even if they don't buy produce from us on Sundays, we're there for all their other needs."
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