I can answer yes to all of these questions but still use a spreadsheet. I understand your point, but I feel even with these the line is still gray.
I just checked and my largest spreadsheet currently has 14,300 lines across 12 tabs. Each tab contains the same information just pulled from a separate form. So each tab is linked to a form to update automatically when someone submits a new response. We then process these responses periodically throughout the day. Finished responses are color coded so a ton of formatting. Also 7+ people interacting with it daily.
Then we have a data team that aggregates the information weekly through a script that sends them a .csv with the aggregate data.
The spreadsheet (and subsequent forms) are updated twice a year. It was updated in June and will be updated again in December. It’s at 14k now and will continue to grow. We’ve been doing this through a few iterations and do not run into performance issues.
Every form of production will have defects. The goal of perfecting production is one to be sought, but never achieved. We should always try to make food production more efficient with less loss, but there will always be loss, and always be waste.
Even new means of production like lab grown beef can have waste and loss in batches that don’t “grow” properly because they didn’t mix hormones correctly or whatever. I actually don’t know how the science behind that works, but I do know it’s a process. And where there’s a process there’s room for error. That’s where we get loss from.
We’ll never make something fool proof. Perhaps lab grown meats will be the most efficient form of product in that they have the lowest loss and production can be tweaked fairly quickly so there’s not a lot of loss and ramped up for shipments to areas with food shortages. Honestly, lab grown in my opinion has the best chances of being a major breakthrough but it’s still too early to be sure.