Loyal to Local

"Everybody agrees that buying local food makes sense," says David Kahley, president and chief executive officer of The Progress Fund, "the problem is that America's food network is set up on this huge scale to move lots of product in trucks across the country. It's not set up to move a smaller amount of product from a hundred-acre farm in Western PA to a marketplace in western PA."

And that's one problem that Produce Grown Here (PGH) project aims to fix. PGH will connect local farmers with each other and with wholesalers, retailers and restaurateurs.

The Progress Fund, a nonprofit economic development organization, plans to brand local fruits and vegetables, distinguishing them from fare that is shipped from afar.

So, why here? Pennsylvania's family-owned farms are an endangered breed. In fact, most of the produce consumed in this state comes from large industrial farms in CA, FL and TX. Farmers who join a PGH "product network" will grow the same varieties to uniform standards and coordinate their harvesting and delivery schedules.

The Progress Fund has had a few bites in their initial phase of PGH—Giant Eagle and Eat'n Park Hospitality Group. Before the year is through, a handful of Giant Eagle supermarkets and Eat'n Park restaurants will highlight local apples and potatoes under the PGH banner. Next year, it's branded tomatoes and sweet corn... and it's growing from there.

"Certainly, those of use who like local foods can go to a farmers' market, or on a Sunday drive to the small farm stand, but that's an occasional treat. It's not something you can do with regularity. You need regularity. You need the farmer to be able to sell the product to the restaurants and grocery stores that want it because the customers are demanding it. That's what we're trying to do: build that distribution system", says Kahley.