Metro teams up with local organic growers
Metro teams up with local organic growers
Metro has launched a program to support local growers by distributing their organic vegetable baskets. Each week, 31 Metro stores and one Super C store across Quebec will play host to family growers belonging to the Équiterre network, which comprises more than 100 farms and feeds some 35,000 people every year.
This unique partnership between Équiterre and Metro, now in its fourth edition, was set up to provide easier access to locally grown organic food by creating drop-off points at locations that are already being frequented by consumers who enjoy local organic products. It also provides merchants with an opportunity to provide a complementary service to their clientele, made possible thanks to the growing number of Quebec farms that have opted for a drop-off point at Metro — growing from 14 in 2013 to 32 in 2015.
This collaborative effort, keeping with the spirit of the Local Purchasing Policy that Metro announced in May of 2013, allows Metro to broaden the scope of its efforts aimed at supporting Quebec suppliers by directly linking the consumer to a farmer in their region. Sharing recipe ideas with growers or discussing future harvests also contributes to improving the human and friendly aspect of this community program.
The agreement also fits in with Équiterre's goal of contributing to the support and growth of local organic farming. In fact, Équiterre's network of family growers provides the population with an opportunity to support a local farm by buying vegetable baskets that are certified organic or in the process of becoming certified.
