I’d say the bigger issue is the commodification of corn syrup and reductionism of product for addiction rather than trade itself.
Please point me to alabamas vast wine country or nuts or avacados. Just because Alabama theoretically has potential doesn’t mean it has everything California does.
No one was saying that other than you.
Alabama Ag is alive and well. Not everything is avocadoes or California nuts.
Looking at your comment history, I can tell you're the type of insufferable technical person whose general attitude towards interacting with others is "well, I'm almost always right, so I'm just gonna permanently rock with the assumption that anyone who isn't me is an idiot whose opinion I can ignore."`
Those of us with fully-functioning emotional subsystems know right away it's not worth putting much effort into engaging with you, since you'll just automatically dismiss any conclusion that's different from your own.
The benefits of this style of stunted mental engagement with the world are obvious and easy to understand: changing your mind about something requires both lots of brain-based energy expenditure and (more importantly) the emotional maturity to admit you might've been wrong about something. I don't blame people like you for deciding to live this way-- it's much easier! Also, in this way you cleverly avoid the emotional pain of accepting that your own analysis was found wanting. Shit, if I weren't so naturally curious about understanding the world the way it actually is instead of just reinforcing my own paper-thin ego, I'd take the same attitude!
Also you’ve been stalking me across multiple comments on different posts. I think you need to really honestly consider your behavior. It’s unsettling, and inappropriate.
You didn't say the person in Alabama "does not enjoy as much local produce", which you maybe meant. If you assumed the audience would understand what you actually meant despite your wording, well then, all the comments taking issue with your statement should be evidence for you that they did not.
In response to these comments, instead of attempting to state your point more clearly, you insult your audience's intelligence and double down, acting like what you said was perfectly clear (it wasn't) and we're all just "offended" (we're not).
I'm only trying to point out-- because you seem genuinely incredulous at some of the responses you've received-- how much the above communication style makes you sound like a belligerent asshole to anyone with regular human feelings.
If you can't see that, I'm afraid you'll continue to have these "I don't get why everyone's got such an attitude, I literally only said x !" moments.
Things Alabama does not have. Be a little sane please.
Please point me to literally anything other than your own bullshit assertions whose only support is that they make your feel good about being the "always-right-guy" once again.
Without more qualifiers, that misses the point. Most local crops are still big ag varieties. The "local" crops you buy are likely the same ones sold in grocery stores anywhere in the US because so many things are grown in California.
But there are some things that can only be grown locally, because they aren't suited to shipping or because they have short shelf lives. And there are lots of varieties that are not on big ag's buy list, so large operations are very unlikely to grow them.
Even corn (which you mention) and soybeans need to be certain varieties to be turned into everything from high fructose corn syrup to the "shrimp shapes" made of soy I remember from grade school. They are part of the problem the GP is talking about, not the problem instead . . .
Big ag forces out diversity in crops and, frankly, forces a blander palate on the populace, who doesn't know better anymore.
There is benefits, but there is also cons.