How the Fast Food Industry Destroyed "Home Ec" to Hook Americans on Processed Crap

[KurtNYC]

149. I'm going to give them credit for talking the talk even while they

have a bit to go before they completely 'walk the walk.'

"We're making these serious issues more approachable to people who are pretty new to them," Arnold said. As such, he said, the new initiative "isn't a tool to drive people to our restaurants; we have advertising and local marketing for that. This is an initiative about bigger-picture values."

They are making progress but this is a huge transition in terms of supply chain.

Chipotle transitioned from purchasing 10–15 percent of seasonally available produce from farms to 75 percent in some markets.
...
Chipotle, with its “Food with Integrity” slogan, is the highest profile company spearheading the pro-farm movement. The company’s annual Boorito fundraiser at Halloween supports Farm Aid and the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, which lends a hand to family farming operations. In October, the company threw a festival in Chicago, “Cultivate Chicago,” that raised awareness for small farms. And the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation earned media attention late last year with two short films that spotlighted the struggles of small-farm operators.

“What we have seen over the years is certainly a huge consolidation among family farms,” says Chris Arnold, director of communications for Chipotle Mexican Grill. He says industrial farming undercuts small farms and leads to 300 families leaving their farms every week.
...
For starters, operators can streamline their supply chain to limit the distance ingredients travel to get to stores. Complex farm-to-market supply chains reap profits for large food processors, but prove detrimental to small-farm operators. A 2010 USDA study, “Comparing the Structure, Size, and Performance of Local and Mainstream Food Supply Chains,” concludes that shorter supply chains increase a family farmer’s income.

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/ingredients-dayparts/case-sourcing-locally

I know a couple local small farmers who are trying to get into Chipotle's supply chain.