it's kind of suggested that the solar system went through a space colonization bubble that simultaneously ruined Earth's environments and crashed agriculture markets. Lots of episodes mention ruined ecosystems or poorly managed terraforming

So they've ended up with an economy where groceries are needlessly expensive but spaceship parts/fuel are common and cheap. Which tracks since it's a hyper capitalist future. It's like how Americans can have a car and go through 2 phones a year and yet still be malnourished or barely scraping by