Late reply but you might appreciate: America is a big country, and population centers are often a long distance/inconvenient to access from the food supply.

This applies to both cities and remote towns in the countryside. Ensuring safety and stability is often a larger priority than freshness.

I.e. The remote town of 500 people 6 hours away from Salt Lake City won’t have the scale or shelf life to accept fresh kale from the California Coast. Processing helps bring these people food safely and conveniently.