Ahead of its annual Local Produce Supplier Summit, Wakefern Food Corp.—the nation’s largest retailer-owned supermarket cooperative—has pledged a $500 million investment to source fresh produce from local and regional farmers across the Northeast over the next five years.
The commitment, announced Tuesday, aims to strengthen the supply chain for Wakefern’s retail banners, including ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Gourmet Garage, Fairway Market, Dearborn Market, and Morton Williams. By focusing on farms located within the states where its stores operate—spanning New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire—the cooperative seeks to meet the growing consumer demand for locally sourced, farm-fresh foods.
“By bringing our family-owned stores and local, family-owned farms together, we create a win for everyone,” Travis Riepenhoff, group vice president of Fresh at Wakefern, said. “Our customers enjoy access to fresh, high-quality produce, our Wakefern members deepen their local connections, and we continue to make our supermarket banners premier destinations for farm-fresh foods.”
The investment will be a centerpiece of Wakefern’s Local Produce Supplier Summit, which is set to take place on July 15 at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in Edison.
The event will bring together Wakefern members, retail associates and more than 20 existing local suppliers, while also opening doors for potential new growers to join the cooperative’s network. New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn is scheduled to attend, where he will join a panel discussion focused on the state’s celebrated “Jersey Fresh” program and the future of regional agriculture.
Since its founding in 1946, Wakefern has evolved from a small cooperative of eight grocery owners into a massive retail force. The $500 million commitment represents a strategic effort to bolster the regional economy by providing stable, long-term partnerships for Northeast farmers.
The initiative highlights the cooperative’s focus on the power of collaboration between community-based retail and local agriculture, ensuring that supermarkets remain vital outlets for regional harvests. By investing heavily in the Northeast farming sector, Wakefern aims to reduce the distance from farm to shelf, providing customers with fresher products while supporting the long-term sustainability of local family-owned farms.
