This post by Prof. Matthew Hayek, part of a mini tweet-storm of 6=7, reminds us that while moving fruit around the globe sounds pretty crazy, in fact it's not that bad. Producing pears domestically is expensive in inputs and the climate in Argentina is perfect for them, so it makes sense to package (particularly the ugly, blemished ones) and ship them off in lightweight containers. Growing pears in the US probably uses a lot of agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides which makes the ecological footprint much larger than producing pears in Argentina.
Why that would happen in Thailand as opposed to Honduras, where cheap labor is also abundant, is probably because it's safer: Honduras is a big shipper for a product with a significantly higher markup. So given global political realities it makes sense!
