If you live in America...it doesn't have to be this way. Anyone who's been to Europe can attest to the availability of delicious fresh produce in spite of industrialization and the presence of supermarkets.
That said, even if you're fine with the low quality of vegetables that end up in this country despite the large amount of arable land and variety of climates available...it's hard not to notice that there's something wrong with a system that is run by representatives of the very industries it's supposed to be regulating. Which doesn't mean that every bit of food is tainted, or even that the industry claims its food is guaranteed safe until proven otherwise (read the fine print and you'll discover that they only guarantee produce within a reasonable margin, and imports less so)...but it does put a serious clamp on the assumption that the USDA or FDA are acting in consumers' best interests.
Surveys have shown that a majority of people want food to be labeled as transgenic or not; this is obviously not the case today, because of heavy pressure from megaliths like Monsanto (if you haven't noticed yet, I hate Monsanto). So while it feels good to change your Twitter avatar or sign an Internet petition, this doesn't do shit.
If you're a voter, look into your representatives' sources of funding before going with them, regardless of party. If politicians could win campaigns without needing to raise funds then the world might be a better place, but Howard Dean's 2004 epic fail has proven that's not the case.
And, of course, avoid buying from those damn megacorps whenever possible. Farmers' markets forever! Although they're so expensive in the U.S. because the farmers feel this ridiculous obligation to sell or advertise organic. I can't imagine why.
P.S. Going berry (or I suppose any other fruit) picking is awesome; they deduct the cost of labor from the purchase, and it's not obligatory organic but it is obviously local.
Blueberries....
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