Whole Foods pledges greater support of small farms

July 24, 2006

Reuters

June 30, 2006 We believe this financial assistance of $10 million per year can

make a very significant difference in helping local agriculture grow and

flourish across the United States and in parts of Canada and the UK as well

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CEO of supermarket chain Whole Foods Market Inc.,

responding to a critic in an online war of words, has pledged to add $10 million

to his company's annual budget for supporting locally grown food.

John Mackey, who co-founded the chain that has fueled organic foods' popularity

in the United States, said it would make long-term, low-interest loans to small

farms.

" We believe this financial assistance of $10 million per year can make a very

significant difference in helping local agriculture grow and flourish across the

United States and in parts of Canada and the UK as well, " Mackey wrote in a

letter posted on the Austin, Texas-based company's Web site on Thursday.

Mackey said some Whole Foods outlets would use parts of their parking lots on

Sundays to host open-air markets for nearby farms and would redouble efforts to

buy from local producers.

The letter was part of a public argument with Michael Pollan, a food writer who

recently published " The Omnivore's Dilemma. "

Pollan, a professor at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, has said Whole

Foods has sacrificed some of the ideals of organic farming while boosting the

industry. The Web site also posted Pollan's original letter to Mackey.

" After visiting a great many large organic farms to research my book, many of

them your suppliers, it seems to me undeniable that organic agriculture has

industrialized over the past few years, and that Whole Foods has played a part

in that process -- for good and for ill, " Pollan wrote.

Mackey responded that 22 percent of the food Whole Foods sells comes from large

corporate farms and that it does business with more than 2,400 independent

farms.

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