Agraza
Registered Hutt
You gotta handle individual packaging, labeling, portions, etc. and that's just harvest. You also have to stagger planting to maintain fresh supplies of some plants over a longer season, and keep track of ages. There are a lot of little steps, and a lot of space needed to do it right. He's not trying to vertically integrate to that degree (if at all).
You really need to be a big deal for it to make sense economically. McDonalds can call the shots in the agricultural industry because their bargaining power is immense. When they did apples a few years back they forced a revolution in apple growing in the USA to meet McDonald's supply and timing demands. No one else matters. You take what you can get or manage triple the headache to control production, wholesale, and retail.
You really need to be a big deal for it to make sense economically. McDonalds can call the shots in the agricultural industry because their bargaining power is immense. When they did apples a few years back they forced a revolution in apple growing in the USA to meet McDonald's supply and timing demands. No one else matters. You take what you can get or manage triple the headache to control production, wholesale, and retail.