There is a HUGE cost to providing cheap vegetables to North America, too. Broccoli and other cruciferous veggies that you buy HERE for pennies are grown in South America. These crops displace the native crops and the indigenous populations won't eat them, making them turn to the crap provided in the grocery stores instead of their traditional diets.
Absolutely, except I'd edit slightly...there is a huge cost to providing cheap, OUT OF SEASON vegetables to Americans (because they are grown in South America, have to be shipped, and have negative impacts on economies and local diets). In season vegetables (particularly local ones) can be purchased from local sources for very cheap prices, but unfortunately, most grocery stores and processed food companies only work with the "big guy" farms, not the little ones, so you're limited to a few shopping venues to find the local goods.
As an aside...nothing drives me more insane than seeing a "Grown in Chile" apple here, in apple country, in the middle of October. Why??
But we all need to recognize that it isn't just about the greenhouse gases nor the transportation nor the venues selling local produce -- the cost of cheap produce is DIRECTLY affecting the populations of those producing countries REGARDLESS of the time of year and REGARDLESS of the season. Arable land is used to grow food palatable to the North American market for export only. Leaving the indigenous populations without the food THEY need to survive...
Even in the middle of summer, an American consumer will buy broccoli from Chile for 89 cents a pound, instead of the locally grown stuff for $1.25 a pound. This isn't about out-of-season production only. It is about using poor nations as our food source without recognizing the impact that the growing/processing of these foods has on the local population.
No editing required as my point is different from the valid point you are making...
About a dozen years ago in grad school I took a course titled "Agriculture and the Environment" that addressed many of these issues. The one driving force behind agricultural policy, at least at that time (and I don't think it's changed), is that Americans demand cheap food. That's where farm subsidies begin--because food is just not that cheap once all things are taken into consideration.
If you factor in the costs to the environment of raising food in the cheapest possible way, it turns out to be not so cheap after all. And I don't even want to think about animal suffering in factory-type production.
I buy my vegetables from Henry's and Trader Joe's (I'm from California)... I do occassionally get produce from Ralphs (large chain) when I need something specific the other stores don't carry. This is rare though cuz Ralphs charges an arm and a leg for their produce. $6 for strawberries!
That being said I honestly have no idea where they get their produce but I can say they don't always have the same produce from week to week. Maybe many people don't know where their produce comes from? If they were more aware they might feel differently about the cheap produce.
I am an Iowa Family Farmer and have been for over 25 years. We are not a huge operation and never will be. In the last 25 years there have been so many changes in what can be raised and how it can be marketed. When we started we raised some grain, but mostly were a livestock farm with about 20 cows and a similar number of hogs. We could get by with that and by farming that way, diversified, my husband's family had been able to support themselves for over 50 years on this farm. Our farm is very hilly, and it would be very environmentally unsound to try to raise a crop on the land so we have it in pasture where we raise cattle, not a huge amount, and sell the calves when they are around 400 lbs. We no longer raise any crops, the cost of production is huge and the profits aren't unless you have what it takes to farm hundreds of acres in crops. We can't raise hogs anymore, they are controled by the packing plants who contract how many you will raise, what they will be fed, and when they will be delivered. I know of no farmer around here who is a full time farmer, all of them are working full time off the farm jobs as are their wives if married, just to try and keep their heads above water.
The cheap foods are not just hurting people in 3rd world countries, it is creating a third world here in the US. Spend some time in the rural areas, drive past abandoned farm sites and through small towns with empty stores and know that every one of those building supported a family or more than one and now they don't.
The problem is that the 1200 calories from Mcdonalds may be 60% of your calories but it is far, far lower in nutrients. I don't consider 5 bucks at Mcdonalds on a "Value Meal" a bargain in the least. I am SOOOO much better off getting 5 bucks worth of beans and produce that's on sale on my local market.
As an aside...nothing drives me more insane than seeing a "Grown in Chile" apple here, in apple country, in the middle of October. Why??
Haha, we have that here, too... I see mostly apples from Washington over here! Bill Nye pointed out on his show Stuff Happens that NY state produces more apples than NYers eat per year, but still something like 1/2 of the apples we buy in NY are shipped from Washington state. (Not to mention they taste like crap by the time they get here and sit in the supermarkets... ugh, grocery store apples are the worst!)
