Walmart will transform its 629 locations into pick-up locations for its new "Community Supported Agriculture" or CSA service. The exciting part is that they are choosing to work with small local farmers. Each of the regional stores will not only drop off but pick up from their partner farms.

"We took the notion of "food hubs" and ran with it. Food needs to be more than just cheap. The future of sustainable food is local farms and if a large corporation like ours can participate, we can jump-start the trend." adding that "when we see consumers paying a premium for things like organic products and free-range animals we understand that they want to have that choice and a CSA is our first step to providing it."

Beginning in mid-2013 Wal-Mart will also offer pastured chickens and grass-fed beef. They will be special-ordered from their existing CSA-farm network. The biggest irony is that the product-tracking system Wal-Mart is notorious for to manage inventory nation-wide was used as a conceptual framework for solving these supply issues.

While the cost of the CSA has yet to be disclosed, we can be sure that Wal-Mart will be competitive on price!

"We will be price conscious of our true local competitors. Whole Foods should be scared."

And I'm sorry to have to say, "April Fools".

–Josh Brusin