As I was moving back into the right lane, having passed the slow moving truck with the hardened tomatoes, a similar truck with an identical load of tomatoes passed us both going in the other direction. There was an entire truckload of tomatoes headed East for who know how many hundreds or possibly thousands of miles, and another truckload headed in the opposite direction possibly even farther! There is no greater illustration available for the inefficiencies of our modern food system than had a satellite snapped a birds-eye-view photograph of these two tomato trucks passing each other, on there way to destinations unknown with tomatoes that likely could have been eaten ten miles from where they were picked. When McKibben points out inefficiencies, he mentions many of the alarming figures requiring transportation costs and other factors. But the sheer time wasted, and the logistical ineptitude...

But there can be better regulation and coordination of the agriculture industry, which would lead to less waste and better tasting food. If distribution could be centrally coordinated between the various companies and factory farmers, local produce could become a more common item in the large chain grocery stores. Growers wouldn't need to sacrifice taste and texture for ease of shipping which means a better product could be delivered at less cost (due to transportation reductions). If the industry were willing to submit to such regulation it could prove very effective.