As much as excessive corporate profits bug me, I appreciate efforts that grocery stores make to provide us with great food that we would not get at certain times of the year without a well-developed import-export network.

It’s easy to take it for granted. Shelves and display units in stores are routinely stocked with truly amazing produce, even though the wind is howling and the snow outside is knee deep.

Behind the scenes, a lot of people – people who are not raking in huge sums of money, unlike their company’s owners and upper administrators – are working hard to make that happen.

The import-export network’s reliability showed its resilience during COVID’s initial arrival. Food supplies were interrupted to some degree, but for the most part, we were fine.

The network offers new job opportunities and income sources to people we never see. For example, check out the amazing quality of the Peruvian grapes that are arriving on the market – at least for now.

Last week marked the two-month anniversary of domestic upheaval in Peru that is severely affecting food production there. Over the past 30 years, the country’s fruit and vegetable sector has come on strong, with the result being significant and reliable exports of superb blueberries, mangoes and avocados, on top of terrific table grapes.

But the network has been interrupted by political mayhem, stemming from the ousting of president Pedro Castillo. He’s the storied son of illiterate farmers, a rags to riches story, the first rural Peruvian to become the country’s top dog.

However, he hasn’t dealt well with power. He’s overseen what is described as a disastrous 16-month term through to December, filled with charges of corruption and incompetence. He was sent packing from government, but his supporters in the countryside considered his ouster a bourgeoisie move. They kicked back with road blockades, protests and more. Urban Peru has enjoyed a measure of prosperity, but rural areas have not and they were hoping Castillo would bring them along.

His ousting opened floodgates of frustration. In December a state of emergency was declared in the country, with fighting spilling into airports and highways. Dozens of people have died.

This has thrown the agricultural sector into chaos, at what should be its busiest time. Alejandro Fuentes, president of the Association of Agrarian Producers Guilds of Peru, estimates 100,000 agricultural workers are affected by the unrest. At the end of last month, no cold storage was available, because it was full of asparagus and table grapes that couldn’t be moved out of production areas.

“This is peak table grape, pomegranate and avocados packing season,” he says. “This is the time of the year when workers earn not only a salary but extras, through all kinds of bonuses.” A worker in Peru’s table grape industry earns around $25 per day; bonuses are welcomed.

Fuentes’ office has condemned the violence. It issued a statement on his behalf calling for peace and noted the global ramifications of the actions.

“This is hurting the reputation of Peru as a reliable supplier,” he said.

These days, suppliers around the globe are poised to capitalize on these kinds of situations, to break into new markets. Peru clawed back from the grip of terrorist groups in the 1980s and worked hard to carve out a place on the world stage as a quality producer.

The unrest puts that at risk, and underlines how food networks everywhere need diversity to ensure reliability.