> Capitalism is not the thing preventing farmers from easily selling this stuff directly to consumers.

> Sure it is.

I think its exactly because Free Market Capitalism doesn't exist in the gatekeeping process we currently call the 'The Market' that makes selling directly to consumers an anomaly rather than standard and is quite contrary to your argument.

You have to setup a share system to try and have a chance to lower your overheard and CapEX with a farm. Even Farmer's Markets are tightly regulated in some States, and they force you to accept SNAP/Food Stamps to be admitted into the program that allows you to rent a spot for a season. Which presents a whole other set of issues to be paid for your goods/services.

There is nothing about Free Market Capitalism in that. And your complex supply chain system is the symptom and byproduct of that perversion.

> Why haven't these companies reconfigured to switch chains? They CAN do this. It is a matter of time and money to do so, and they would clean up after doing so.

Because since the late 80-90s there has been a systematic eradication of small farms in the US by large Chemical and Biotech Multi-nationals; its a lot harder to petition Monsanto (now Bayer) to stop doing the things that have made them trillions in profits than it would a small and pop 15 acre operation and adapt to this model. I highly recommend this book written by a local journalist in Boulder, CO, called Harvest of Rage [1], and he talks about the cascade effects of ruining rural America as the food belt became the rust belt and led to extremism.

> The problem is that everybody is assuming that we will be going back to normal in about 6 months, so anything at that time scale or longer is wasted money from the point of view of profit. Nobody will reoptimize anything until they are absolutely FORCED to as part of an existential threat.

I disagree, I'm currently in discussion for a position with a startup that is going even further to capture the food loss from this kind of myopic short sighted-ness, I hope I get it as it would be a good project to really sink my teeth into.

> This is all about optimizing for profit at the expense of anything else.

Agreed. But that doesn't mean we cannot include a value system in that narrative that helps find a middle ground. We have to be flexible and understand things won't happen over night, I've been trying to tackle this very issue for nearly 15 years, hence my background. And while I always want to see more progress I cannot deny we've come a long way, especially since I was a 90s kid in the US and we didn't even know we were eating pesticide leaden vegetables: we were lab rats!

Its no surprise my generation continues to have all these food-bourne illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease. So rather than opine of what should be, try to make a difference in your community. Start a community garden program and plant fruit trees around your area. This was typical during WWII and should come back in my opinion. Now that people are now able to go outside.

1: 1: https://www.amazon.com/Harvest-Rage-Oklahoma-City-Beginning/...

I think it is much easier to get out of farming with no money, than to get into it. In the US, policy has punished rural communities and farmers for a long time:

https://www.amazon.com/Harvest-Rage-Oklahoma-City-Beginning/...