> out here in Mountain View
It looks like you and your community are ahead of the curve on this one. You're also less than 200 miles from some of the best agricultural land in the world, so of course good fresh fruit and vegetables are easy to get. In the northeast during winter, the choice is between mushy, bland big box produce or no produce at all.
I disagree because we, the individual consumer, are the ones who buys, therefore we may have the power to make this to change to some extent, and I see what you do as an example of that. If people would buy more from local producers it's expected for the Big Box retailers to see their revenues drop. At that point they'll need to make a change.
> It can be quite difficult justifying the price tag on that bag of apples when you're not sure you can get through the whole bag, and two individual apples will end up costing you just as much as the bag because they carry the bullshit "organic" label
This may be another key issue. Do we really need to buy a whole bag of apples, just because we see it as a bargain, even if we end up throwing half of it away?
Because these places put such a high demand on perfect produce, they can charge more for that produce, and Americans find it harder and harder to afford eating their fruits and veg because it's too expensive to have food that rots when you're working 10 hour days vs. something in a can that is immortal. It can be quite difficult justifying the price tag on that bag of apples when you're not sure you can get through the whole bag, and two individual apples will end up costing you just as much as the bag because they carry the bullshit "organic" label. (And those are usually the two options you get - no non-organic freestanding take-as-many-as-you-think-you-can-eat apples by the pound for you; same goes for potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.) Lose-lose for the consumer.
I've been told again and again that there's some evidence us consumers have to be looked out for and have perfect, pristine produce, and yet I happily buy from a farmer's market the most knobbly carrots and potatoes and see many of my neighbors doing the same out here in Mountain View. They're often even more flavorful than the supermarket alternative, and since they're from nearer by (and didn't go through the industrial food transportation and refrigeration system where they're battered and shocked), they often don't spoil as quickly either.
Maybe the real problem is that Big Box Retailers have overconsolidated markets so much that there's no venue to sell this "less-than-perfect" produce to people.