>>8786874 lb
Don’t forget you can’t go in the ocean as the virus might infect the ocean and then go back on land and infect people again from infected ocean waves.
My family are california farmers, fresh market produce, not to processors. They and many others can’t sell their product because their customers are food service, not retail grocery. There is no demand and farmers are walking over crops rather than the expense of harvesting.
Retail buyers will make US produce farmers jump through hoops getting food safety audits in order to be approved supplier and then turn around and purchase foreign grown, from areas with zero food safety laws, zero labor laws, no sanitation and where restrictions on chemicals don’t exist lime they do in the US.
There is a reason most labor intensive crops were moved to central and south America, agriculture is good cover for trafficking drugs and people. These crops are grown in cartel controlled areas.
And produce buyers for retail are notoriously corrupt, they want kickbacks and the cheapest product no matter how much their marketing advertises sustainable and locally grown. Locally grown is anything that can arrive within 24 hours. They mark up fresh produce between 300-500% profit margins after all expenses. Of course everybody claims they aren’t selling/purchasing below the floor or dumping price, but once it arrives, it often doesn’t meet USDA inspection, which has no bearing on whether or not it goes into the stores for sale. it just means they can adjust the price after delivery to whatever the feel like paying. It is a sad state that even our food supply is being outsourced.