AUBURN - When Scott Maxwell puts out fruits and vegetables in his Lewis Street store, more often than not, he's handling produce grown in New York, specifically in the Finger Lakes.

"Buying from a local farmer is important to a store like this," said the owner of Maxwell's Food Store, which has been in his family for four generations. "Besides, customers know that freshness is the key to produce, and local is fresher."

During the past 10 years, large supermarket chains have been learning what Maxwell's has known all along. While Maxwell has been selling corn from Weedsport, apples from Geneva, potatoes, cabbage and onions from Port Byron, and cider from Wolcott, Wegmans, Tops Friendly Markets and P&C Foods have been busy developing programs promoting locally-grown agricultural products.

"You have to know your clientele," said Michael Muysk, vice president of Baldor Specialty Foods, a Bronx distributor looking to sell New York-grown fruits and vegetables in downstate restaurants and supermarkets because demand there is growing as well. "On a retail level, some chains are much more aware than others."

It may be easier - and cheaper - for stores upstate, being in the middle of farm country, to recognize that customers place a value on buying what their neighbors grow, instead of buying out-of-state.

Wegmans has purchased whatever it can from farmers near its stores for 15 years, said Ann Hyatt, the Rochester-based chain's consumer affairs spokeswoman. She said it's what shoppers have come to expect.

"We have pretty strict standards for the produce we buy," she said. "But we've brought it up to where we want it, and generally speaking, we buy local."

They have lost some of the older farmers, Hyatt said, because Wegmans now does everything by computer and some growers have not been able to adapt.

Each day, farmers who sell to Wegmans use specialized software on their computers to enter the products they have available, and the price they're asking. The supermarket decides what's needed, and orders accordingly. Growers may supply to a single supermarket in the chain, or to several.

Jason Truek, one of the owners of Cayuga Produce in King Ferry, said Wegmans is among the best for buying local.

"They have a good program and they try hard to take care of the home-grown," he said.

Hyatt said shoppers "like seeing a farmer's face" on a sign, or learning that the corn they're buying arrived in the store just a short time before and was picked fresh from a nearby field that day.

During sweet corn season, Wegmans stores have cardboard clocks set up, announcing the next arrival of ears, and where they're coming from.

And for the Auburn store, much of that corn comes from Bibbens Farms in Weedsport, which also supplies strawberries. Bill Bibbens said Maxwell's and P&C also carry their corn. The family-owned farm also sells through farmers' markets and a fruit stand at the corner of Route 31B and Jericho Road.

Truek said that Wal-Mart is also starting to look locally for produce in its supercenter in Auburn. Much of what it buys comes through a Baldwinsville, Onondaga County, distributor. "They're trying," he said.

The market for locally-grown produce has improved significantly during the past decade, Bibbens said.

"Fifteen years ago, people did not buy from local growers," he said. "I think the campaigns, like Wegmans' 'Strive for Five' that promotes fruits and vegetables, have helped the industry."

Maxwell said his prices are "pretty close" to the large chains, and he can sell some produce, especially potatoes, cheaper because the larger stores often get them from-out-of -state. His come from Guidone Farms in Port Byron.

"You have to support your local people," said Tom Moon, who owns Ed and Jean's Market in Port Byron. Like Maxwell's, it is an independent market and when it can, it sells mostly local produce. He also buys from Guidone.

Stephanie Zackowiz, a spokeswoman for Tops Friendly Markets, said her company tries to buy "100 percent New York." But not much has been purchased from Finger Lakes farmers.

"The majority comes from Erie and Niagara County," she said. The chain is based in Buffalo.

She said Tops likes its farmers to become part of a co-op because it helps monitor quality. She said Tops is not adverse to purchasing from Central New York growers, but "not that many have been able to supply the quantity we need."

Joe Ramierez, a spokesman for P&C's parent company, Penn Traffic, said the company purchases as much local produce as possible, so long as it meets P&C quality standards.

"Fortunately, there is a great deal in New York that's high quality," he said.

One problem is that New York's growing season is short, which means the chain has to look elsewhere in the winter time, and that means southern states and sometimes Mexico.

Hyatt said there are things, like oranges and bananas, that just don't grow here, that have to be purchased from out-of-state.

But she said customers expect the local connection when it's possible.

"Besides, everybody knows that locally-grown corn tastes better than Florida corn," Hyatt said.

Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net