Wegmans Holds the Future of Food
The future of food can be found nestled among emerald green pastures and rolling hills lush with wildflowers. Red barns, breathtaking valleys and pristine lakes dot the landscape. A visitor to the area might just think they’ve stumbled into heaven, instead of the cradle of innovation for one of America’s most beloved grocers.
About a half-mile up the hill, Canandaigua Lake comes into view, and so does the Wegmans Organic Farm & Orchard. Apple trees, sunflowers, herbs and greenhouses abut a beautiful large wooden building. When you park the car and step on the ground, flittering pollinators and the aroma of lavender envelop visitors.
While much of the grocery industry pivots attention and capital toward artificial intelligence and other technologies as the next transformation of the retail food industry, Wegmans is doubling down on nature. The company’s organic farming operation in New York State has more than doubled in size since first opening in 2007. Wegmans Food Markets, which has 111 stores and 54,000 employees across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, today farms more than 40 acres of tomatoes, herbs, apples, grapes, berries, micro-greens and so much more. The farm has become the beating heart of sustainability for the company as it seeks to lead the grocery industry on a path toward a future of food that is more sustainable and regenerative.
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“This farm is a sustainability innovation hub for Wegmans,” said Alison Hayes, Wegmans Organic Farm Ambassador. “I believe it means that we are being respectful to future generations to make healthy sustainable food. And regenerative agriculture is at the heart of how we grow our food and soil; if we grow better soil, we grow better food.”
3 Pillars of Sustainability
The grocery industry is changing, and much of that change is accelerating due to consumer eating habits, technology, sustainability concerns, and the way we source our food. At the Wegmans Organic Farm, the company is not only innovating to produce more sustainable food that its customers are demanding, but it’s also sharing what it has learned with partner growers to help them become more sustainable as well, transforming the industry at a time when climate change, food insecurity, rising costs and other challenges are straining the U.S. food system.
Wegmans’ sustainability pillars include sustainable growing, waste reduction, sustainable packaging and responsible sourcing, and the farm allows the retailer to innovate on and fast-track those goals.
“When you think of our farm and orchard, there's three main focus areas: sustainability, innovation and education,” Hayes said. “Whether it's a new package that's more sustainable, whether it's our compost innovation, whether it’s growing an item for Wegmans that has never been offered before such as brûlée squash. If it’s a success, it will go to a partner grower so they can grow it on a much larger scale to supply all our stores."
That’s because the Wegmans farm is not a production farm.
“Our purpose is not to grow everything for Wegmans,” said Mark Limoli, Wegmans Organic Farm and Orchard manager. “We have items that give us foundational support, allowing us to dedicate time and energy to the three pillars.”
Wegmans started out with its original 50-acre farm property in 2007, and then expanded by acquiring a 168-acre orchard nearby in 2014. The Wegmans Organic Farm today grows fruits, vegetables, lavender, flowers for floral bouquets, micro greens, and cat grass among other crops. The farm also produces cider, maple syrup, honey and lavender products. Since planting its first seeds in 2007, the farm has trialed more than 100 organic crops.
“In 2017, we added a controlled environmental agriculture building, so we can do year-round growing. Plus, we continue to collaborate and share knowledge with outside farmers in the agriculture community as well as our partner growers on the east coast,” Hayes said.
On a tour of the farm and orchard in July, Progressive Grocer had the opportunity to see the broccoli, arugula microgreens and wheatgrass growing in all of their splendor, and sample new varieties of cherry tomatoes and purple scallions as well.
“We think we've got a winner with the purple organic scallions. It's an item that you don't normally see in Wegmans. So, we're very proud of that. We're going to do red kuri and black futsu squashes that are new for us,” Hayes said, offering a mouthwatering description of the brûlée squash Wegmans grew an acre of last year.
“The butternut squash can be considered a little mild, and the honey nut squash is a beautiful small squash that's very, very sweet,” Hayes said. “The brûlée is the perfect amount of sweetness and creaminess right in between the butternut and the honey nut.”
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In addition to growing scrumptious varieties of squash, the farm is currently prioritizing regenerative agriculture practices and increasing efficiencies. Solar panels provide some of the farm’s energy needs.
“We are also asking ourselves, how are we cover cropping,” said Limoli. “What does that look like? What are we cover cropping with between our beds? What is our long-term farm plan? How are we controlling weeds? Are we doing it in a way that's giving back to our soil? No one became an organic farmer because they wanted to farm in black plastic, right? So how can we farm better around the black plastic we need to use? And how can we start to work toward thinking about systems that involve less black plastic?”
But plastic is not the only material that Wegmans is trying to reduce. Every week the farm produces about 10,000 pounds of what it calls packhouse waste, and the farm has made it a priority to put it back into the soil.
“We put it in our compost so we can spread it back out on our fields knowing that we're replenishing the soil using the ingredients that came from the farm. Plus, through cover cropping, we're putting an investment into the soil. This isn't something we're going to harvest, but it's going to make the soil more nutrient rich so that whatever we are growing in it has that wonderful organic flavor profile. So, what we do at the Wegmans Organic Farm is, we feed the soil to feed the plants,” Hayes said.
Wegmans created 560,000 pounds of compost at its farm in 2023, equivalent to 14 tractor trailer loads of food kept out of landfills.
In addition to regenerating the soil and experimenting with compost, the farm also serves as a lab where the company plays with new produce packaging.
“When you think of tomatoes, the team worked really hard to go from plastic to cardboard, which was a 98% reduction in plastic,” Limoli said. We found that as much as we love this packaging, visibility to the product presents a challenge. Our focus this year is to have success in both packaging and success in the stores through sales. We feel it's our responsibility at the farm to figure this out. This year, we went with a lower profile cardboard package that still has a sustainable element to it, with twice as much product visibility.”
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The data on whether grocery shoppers are prioritizing products with sustainable packaging is mixed, but Wegmans says their customers and employees think it’s crucially important.
“We have been surveying customers about this topic since 2021 and a pretty healthy number of customers think it’s important,” said Jason Wadsworth, Packaging and Sustainability Category Merchant at Wegmans. “When we survey those folks, things pop up: whether it's packaging or waste or carbon footprint. And we’re also listening through internal feedback channels. So that has helped us form our priorities and modify our focus within those areas based on that feedback.”
As for the education pillar at the Organic Farm, Wegmans continues to educate its employees through tours, hands-on experiences, and presentations. Additionally, educating youth in the community about agriculture has been an important focus. They recently launched a new program with Finger Lakes Community College to offer interns an opportunity to work on the farm.
August, September, and October are the busiest months with harvesting onions, tomatoes, squash, apples, grapes, and flowers for bouquets.
Passion for a Purpose
As for how the farm ties back to sustainability measures at Wegmans stores, Wadsworth says the passion shown by the farm team translates across the company.
“You can see and feel the passion for sustainability at the farm, and you can see and feel that across Wegmans. It's just something that we're all very passionate about,” Wadsworth said. “The farm is the foundation of our sustainability strategy. We make sure that whatever we're doing on the farm is sustainable and regenerative. And so when we look at eliminating waste, the farm is helping us lead the way. They're at 95%, which is our goal as a company for stores and facilities.”
Wadsworth explained that 95% of the waste at the farm is diverted from the landfill. At Wegmans stores and facilities, the company is trying to get to 95% by capturing food waste, primarily donating food to the people in need that would otherwise go in the landfill.
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“We're on that trajectory to get to 95%. We're supposed to be at 92% by the end of this year, a very high recycling rate for the industry,” Wadsworth said.
Wadsworth actually started the company’s zero waste program in 2016, and at the beginning, the average store recycling rate was 64%. That's how much was being diverted from landfill.
What about now?
“Now it’s been rolled out to all stores and our average rate is around 86%. It's been rolled out to our other facilities like our warehouses recently as well. A lot of this is educating employees and helping them understand the importance of it,” Wadsworth said, adding that each Wegmans store has a sustainability coordinator. “The beautiful thing is we have buy-in from our employees. And that's how we can keep this at a very high standard. We have people who care about it in the store who report to leadership, and the store managers are ultimately the champions in each store.”
Another important component to the Wegmans food waste program has also been its partnership with Feeding America.
“When we talk about minimizing food waste, that includes donation for human consumption. And we have this incredible partnership with Feeding America’s network of food banks,” Wadsworth said. “Their pantries come to our stores on a daily basis to pick up restaurant foods, bakery, produce and dairy. They help us get it into the hands of people that need it.”
One thing not being wasted, however, is the retailer’s organic brûlée squash, launched last year.
“Last year we grew an acre. It was such a success with shoppers, we're growing two acres this year. Who knows – in the future a partner grower might be growing that for us at scale. I’m excited,” Hayes said, and added, “Hip Hip Brûlée!”
