It sounds especially inefficient when you consider the bad example brought up in the article--apples. There is a reason apples are mass-produced--lots of land and the right climate conditions. You can't grow too many apples in urban areas. I love real apples, but I grew up in an exurban area across the street from an apple orchard.

You won't taste apples that good through mass production, but you will be able to get apples year around. Those are the trade offs.