Organic Isn't the Only Name in the Quality-Signal Game

As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted supply-chain stressors, the fragility of small and local businesses and the perils of sourcing product exclusively from producers far from the point-of-sale, interest in local is likely only to accelerate.

“Shoppers are increasingly adopting a ‘healthy for me, healthy for we’ mindset and aligning their personal beliefs with the products they purchase.”

More than 90% of leafy greens sold in the U.S. come from California or Arizona, notes Don Taylor, CEO of Charleston, S.C.-based indoor greens grower Vertical Roots. For a lot of those greens in stores across the country, then, “It’s two weeks old by the time it gets there, and then it goes to your refrigerator, and then you’re probably going to lose another 30% of it,” Taylor says. “That waste product can be cut down significantly by the product being grown a lot closer to the point of distribution.”