Forty years ago I became employed in the grocery industry and wondered even then at the industry's seemingly addictive love affair with sourcing produce that could be grown locally from the other side of the continent.

I challenge Giant Eagle, Shop 'n Save, Costco and other significant players in the market to finally address and solve the problems with stocking significant quantities of locally grown produce.

The local produce season is in its final weeks and it is my hope that industry representatives will visit the New Wilmington Produce Auction as it winds down and formulate a plan over the winter for the following spring when the local strawberry season begins.

Recently I attended the produce auction (nwproduce.com) with the goal of purchasing quantities of apples and winter squash. I buy produce for three local food banks in Butler County and all of my sourcing is from this auction.

The auction is swiftly transitioning into an offering of strictly fall selections highlighted by apples, pumpkins and winter squash but also uniquely varied by the Amish growers with items like bird house gourds and 20-pound, blue hubbard squash. Still available were the summer standards of peppers, melons, tomatoes and row upon row of the dozens of other products grown locally. There were pecks of habanera peppers and bright red cherry bombs for canning and stuffing. All picked within hours and transported usually less than 20 miles.

This August, I watched white peaches being picked at an Amish farm that dimpled to the softest touch and were uniformly ripe and sweet to the stone. They were picked in the morning, packed into peck baskets, transported maybe 2 miles and offered for sale at an auction that began at 10 a.m. Unbelievably wonderful and so different from those rock hard, maybe-someday-they-will-ripen, California, poor excuse for peaches that are sold not only by Giant Eagle but also by every other large player in the grocery industry.

This article is a challenge to the industry and I expect that challenge, if answered, will challenge local growers.

The auction is wholesale, but any individual may participate.

The New Wilmington Produce Auction is one of a dozen in the state of Pennsylvania. There are also auctions in Ohio and New Jersey.

After a recent auction, I visited a New Castle Giant Eagle that was less than 10 miles away to confirm what I already knew. The Giant Eagle had huge displays of Washington State pears and apples. The peaches and nectarines were from California, cauliflower was from Salinas and on and on.

Yakima, Wash., is 2,500 miles away and Salinas, Calif., is 2,700 miles distant. These points are just a smidge farther than the 10 miles to New Wilmington. Why can't this store stock apples from the local orchards that are being offered for sale at an auction that is less than 10 miles away?

I know that the answer is harder than it may seem. I also know that it can be done and it needs to be done.

Could this auction accommodate the volume required by a chain such as Giant Eagle? The answer is, no. Could this auction handle a significant portion of the volume requirements of a geographic cluster of 20 stores?

The answer is, YES. If one year the auction successfully serviced 20 stores, would capacity to service an additional 20 stores the following year be possible? The answer is, YES.

If Giant Eagle and other companies in the industry spent the time to research what is available and set some aggressive achievable goals, agriculture in Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley could be transformed.

I held these beliefs 40 years ago when I entered employment in the grocery industry and I maintain them today. We need to work at making this concept a reality. It will not be easy, mistakes will be made, but we need to start.

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