Corby Kummer has related a rather confusing realization to us this month in the Atlantic Magazine. Namely, that retail supergiant Walmart may be playing an important part in sustaining small organic farms.

Detail from Kang Can, Fast Food III (2007) [via]

If Walmart's move into organics strikes you as cynical — "a way to grab market share while driving small stores and farmers out of business," you're not alone. But, Kummer suggests, it's not entirely clear that the right reaction is disapprobation. For example, he notes that:

[L]ast year, the market for organic milk started to go down along with the economy, and dairy farmers in Vermont and other states, who had made big investments in organic certification, began losing contracts and selling their farms. A guaranteed large buyer of organic milk began to look more attractive.

Kummer, suspicious of greenwashing, called Charles Fishman, the author of The Wal-Mart Effect. Fishman was quick to note that, in Kummer's paraphrase, "whatever Walmart decides to do has large repercussions."

A virtually unknown Walmart program is responsible for their responsible buying — one that Kummer claims "could do more to encourage small and medium-size American farms than any number of well-meaning nonprofits, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture." At the time of their interview, not even Fishman had heard of it. "They do a lot of good things they don’t talk about," he said.

Kummer's conclusion? If it's not decidedly the case that "the world’s largest retailer is set on rebuilding local economies it had a hand in destroying," at least that "if it wants to, a ruthlessly well-run mechanism can bring fruits and vegetables back to land where they once flourished, and deliver them to the people who need them most."

Decide for yourself here.