Bridge Closure Strains PEI Grocery Supples

Not to sound obnoxious, but wasn't I writing about this the other day, a dependence on "just in time" import-reliant food supply?
Seems that major urban centers are not the only ones in this boat.
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"High winds halt truck traffic
Monday, December 14, 2009 | 7:44 AM AT CBC News
Skies were clear, but 100 km/h gusts were too strong for safe passage of trucks. (CBC)

With the Confederation Bridge linking P.E.I. and New Brunswick closed to trucks for two days, some Island grocery store shelves were beginning to look a little empty over the weekend.

The bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles due to winds gusting over 100 km/h that blew from early Friday to early Sunday morning. Northumberland Ferries, connecting P.E.I. with Nova Scotia, also stopping running.

About 100 transport trucks were left idling alongside the highway in New Brunswick. That left grocery stores on P.E.I. posting apologetic signs as supplies ran low.

Irwin Docherty parked his rig at the truck stop in Aulac, N.B.

"This is the longest I've ever seen it. Well, to sit for two days, yeah it's very boring. Do a lot of crossword puzzles," said Docherty.

Some trucks waited two days for the bridge to reopen. (CBC)
"I have a load of groceries.… They haven't had groceries since Thursday night. I'd say there'd be a few bare shelves around somewhere."

The arrival of groceries Sunday afternoon had clerks scrambling to restock.

"We had no bananas, a lot of the salads are down. We have all our order now," said one clerk in Charlottetown, who was having a hard time catching up.

"It's piled up so high and there's only so many people available to work on Sunday."

Bridge controller Anne Compton said this is the longest time traffic has been restricted on the bridge since it opened in May 1997."

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Now of course it would be tricky for PEI to be self-sufficient in bananas, and salad greens this time of year {more on this topic later though}, and I would make the concession that things unable to be produced in a place are decently acceptable to import.
But I have to wonder too, though: is PEI self-reliant in alot of other food categories? I don't know. I suppose they have their own potato and fish supply. But other than that... what do they import that they could produce themselves?

It is the very nature of modern food economics that places are encouraged to focus on cash crops for money, and import what they need; the IMF and WB advise or demand countries to do this all the time when giving out loans "oh sure, you have alot of small-holding farmers and thus are self-sufficient in fruits and beans and dairy and eggs, but, you could make alot of money if you turn all those farms over to papayas."

Is it possible that PEI doesn't grow enough of their own, say, apples, or corn, or milk, or carrots, because they specialize in potatoes? Possibly... likely.... And furthermore, does this matter? IN most people's minds, not really. Until, that is, there is an interruption to their supply system. The usual response then is to reinforce that system. Take a look at the stream of comments following that CBC "PEI..." article: some people suggest "we need a covered bridge." Yet some actually talk about: our centralized food supply system is set up to, well, not deal with real-world challenges.

What do you all think?