>There's going to be an inflection point where the cost to transport lettuce from Mexico and California is going to be more than the cost of some vertical farm down the street.
How sure are you about that? Buildings are expensive, and you can fuel up trucks with solar arrays.
there was a planet money about getting a t-shirt made, and like... 40% of the cost was for the last couple mile deliveries.
No matter how automated 95% of the journey is, the last mile will require someone to be there and do deliveries. In theory local producers have less coordination problems with their consumers.
How sure are you about that? Buildings are expensive, and you can fuel up trucks with solar arrays.