Similarly my parents live in a rural community and practically everyone grows garlic, but farm-stands have trouble competing with grocery store (read: Chinese) garlic.
(If I have a dog in this fight, it's actually New Jersey, where I grew up.)
Just kidding. To my knowledge a lot go to processing, not consumer consumption. Typically these are also labeled as "ugly" because they're not always your traditional strawberry shape. Similar, Florida oranges were mostly juicing oranges, not consumption. Though greenery has really fucked up that market sector.
I just don't appreciate the whole "look" based market we have in the states. I think it's as stupid as stupid gets. A majority of food prices are due to people not wanting their food to "look" a certain way. Even though that look has zero correlation to taste. Which, typically, the ugly ones have more flavor. Like, the best beefsteak tomato looks like a hideous tumor. God as my witness, they have a great taste. It's good enough to just slice and eat by itself. But then the pretty beefsteak tomatoes are a watery disaster of sadness.
Just me ranting away about the terrible disconnect a majority of the population has to their food. It's really sad. There's really no cure to it unless the fed mandates Victory Gardens. Which, I'm totally for. The only big government action I'll approve is the fed saying "If you have a yard, you must cultivate 25% of it minimum as a Victory Garden or face penalty of death." A day worth celebrating.
Most people these days never get that experience. So they think what they're looking at is a pretty strawberry. In reality, it's only real use is compost.
If we all agree to purchase slightly damaged food and only remove the damaged part, it would be fine.
There is still the issue that people do not know how the food was damaged, which is a different supply chain issue.
I'm talking about "ugly". The strawberries and tomatoes at the store are perfect shaped. The breeds that pump out these typically lack the same intensity of flavor as heirloom varieties, that if you are not use to them, would barely recognize them.
Watch some homesteading harvest videos on youtube. Especially if they do carrots. They wont look like store bought ones.