> Isn't centralized agriculture more efficient on a calories-per-acre basis That's exactly the problem, the entire industry is built on metrics that revolve ar

> Isn't centralized agriculture more efficient on a calories-per-acre basis That's exactly the problem, the entire industry is built on metrics that revolve around calories and poundage. The calorie is an absolutely useless metric by itself and says nothing of nutritional value. Similarly, a pound a beef is not always the same and nutritional value can vary wildly depending on how the animal was raised. Moving all production to one place like the US Midwest only externalizes the costs for everyone else. Centralizing that dramatically leaves the Midwest in a huge whole with regards to input requirements - they have to ship in fuel, fertilizer, feed, etc from other areas. Not to mention the cost of processing, preserving, and shipping that product back to customers hundreds or thousands of miles away.