Buying produce

Last time I was at the grocery store I noticed something about the produce, nothing is from anywhere close to local. The potatoes were from Idaho, but most was Argentina, or if US California. Now I am in Alabama, by way of Michigan. In Michigan many foods were grown there (although that is changing ). Now in order for us to get fresh produce after the truck ride around the world, it has to be picked early, so vitamins are not as prevalent as if they were allowed to ripen naturally, and this doesn't even take into account flavor. If you've ever had fresh picked produce, you will know the flavor is so much better. We are having a large outbreak of severe illnesses, traced to improper handling at a central packing facility. Then it travels all over and gets difficult to track. Something else that happens is once a vegetable is picked, it begins to rot. How long do these things sit in a warehouse, and then a truck, and another warehouse, where it finally gets to the store? No matter what your political view, The First Lady has a great idea, everyone grow a garden. We grew peppers, eggplant, okra, and tomatoes, and did very little work, and spent about as much on plants as one large order of veggies. We plan on expanding next year, but got a late start this year. I really don't like the globalization of our food market, it puts too many hands on stuff, plus it tastes worse than if grown local. How do we fix it? Well small scale, grow a garden, big scale, I have no clue. Plus I don't want to lose my bananas and other tropical fruit. Things were so much better on the farm though