I Don't Get It

Anyone know the answer to the following quiz?

Apples (organic. .69/ea) bought at an 'alternative grocery store' (for lack of a better term) in mid-September, in Northern California originated from:

a/ Washington State
b/ California
c/ the Southern freakin' Hemisphere
d/ New York

If you guessed C - you're a winner! And I'm the loser for having bought them and not realizing it until we were home and eating them.

This really, really irked me. Is there anyone out there that can explain the economics of this? How is shipping apples from New Zealand, in September (where apples are not even in season there!!!!!!) to California economically viable?! HOW? There are so many things that defy logic, here. How is it less expensive to ship and store them vs. sourcing them locally? They are in season here for goodness sake - apples are falling off all the trees in my urban neighborhood.

How do they justify the environmental cost?
How do they justify the loss in flavor during that long voyage across the whole Atlantic Ocean?

I feel compelled to write to aforementioned store, but they are notoriously secretive and private and sneaky? so I doubt I would get a response. Maybe if Michael Pollan or Alice Waters wrote to them, then they'd listen. Hmph.