Wal-Mart going local?

There was an interesting article in my local paper (The Des Moines Register) recently about Wal-Mart's plan to buy more local produce. I couldn't find a link to that article, but I found a similar one published in the NY Times in October 2010. Wal-Mart's shift to local could have huge positive implications, since Wal-Mart is the largest grocer in the nation. But is the produce truly "local", or is it only a marketing ploy? Some critics are also concerned that buying produce--even local produce--from a large, industrial corporation does not have all of the benefits of purchasing directly from a farmer through a CSA or farmer's market. Check out the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/business/15walmart.html