It has become normal these days for local markets to sell imported produce from overseas instead of local grown foods. Personally, I believe the advantages supersede the disadvantages and I will elaborate on both in the following.
On the one hand, the main advantage this is people’s accessibility to various kinds of foods. That is to say that a variety of foods are made available to choose in local supermarkets thanks to the import of agricultural products from all over the world. For example, by doing so, it is possible for people living in Canada to purchase avocados cultivated in Mexico, which are not accessible in Canada due to its unsuitable weather to grow them. In this way, ordinary people can benefit from it since they have more options when it comes to buying produce.
On the other hand, however, importing overseas foods can post threats to local foods. This is because some agricultural products have comparative advantages in lower prices over those grown domestically. For this reason, people are more likely to choose overseas foods because they are less expensive. As a result of this, local farmers can be outcompeted and eventually go out of business. A good example of that would be that the imported wheat from Argentina is significantly cheaper than Canadian wheat; and most customers will choose the former one, making Canadian farming business less lucrative. However, if managed properly, the government can subsidize local farmers so that they are protected from being exploited from foreign competition.
To conclude, although that domestic agricultural businesses might suffer from imported produce, the advantages of people’s accessibility to a wide range of foods this still outweigh the disadvantages.