[munificent]

> Now consider the scenario where all the large agriculture firms and distributors cut off the Bay Area.

Now consider that this exact scenario is currently affecting 23.5 million people in the US:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

[gameman144]

This is a great example, I think it exemplifies the problem well. Individually, farmers/distributors absolutely have (and in my mind, should have) the right to avoid shipping to areas which would actively lose them money.

When everyone avoids those areas, though, bam: food desert.

I honestly don't know the right balance to strike here. On the one hand, I fervently believe that businesses shouldn't be forced to act against their interests. On the other hand, though, the sum of these individual actions produces an unacceptable outcome.

I'm sure there's some balance of regulation, incentives, and public-private partnerships that would strike a good balance here, but both the extreme solutions (Groceries can locate wherever they want vs. groceries have to establish branches in food deserts) seem to be totally unsatisfactory, at least in my mind.