4 ms·

That's a lot of words to say that fresh foods aren't available close by because people don't want them. They are demanding convenience foods with their dollars

• Spivak 3y ago
  That's one read for the situation but that's not really how I meant it. My takeaway is that fresh produce is far too expensive in dollars to have any hope of competing with non-perishables in value. When the price of the food at your local grocery store is dominated by the price of the transportation to get it there low-value foods that either cause loss through expiration and/or require additional work to turn into a meal have no chance when they're the same price as non-perishables and prepared food. So yes people are demanding them with their dollars but that's less of a preference for them and more they would be stupid not to if budget is of any concern. If all the fresh produce in the grocery store was $0 I bet consumers would choose it overwhelmingly compared to alternatives. So I contend there is a number where fresh produce wins but we're not even close to it. Because you have to save on dollars to make the additional work/risk worth it but right now you don't. And it's one thing to be like "well that's the market for ya" but we already heavily subsidize agriculture it's not that crazy to also subsidize produce at the point of sale both to reduce waste during harvest and to encourage healthier eating.