What is the true price of the food we eat?

 
  What is the true price of the food we eat?

  While prices might be rising right now, the UN estimates that we’re actually getting a steal of a deal. A $20 trillion discount on the food we eat worldwide.

  Why? Because the price we pay doesn’t match the true price of what we consume. Behind that sticker price is a tangle of hidden costs.

  These are externalities — costs (and also, sometimes, benefits) incurred by those not directly involved in production or consumption. These include things like: environmental costs — for the lasting impact of deforestation, CO2 emissions, and the thousand-year legacy of plastic waste, health costs — like those that might be incurred from treating illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes caused by eating unhealthy food, and social costs — for supporting the livelihoods of underpaid workers and the generational impact of child labour.

  Calculating all these deeper costs is called “true cost accounting”. And the result reveals a product’s true price. Your coffee at breakfast, for example, might conceal a very different price tag. Research from the True Price organisation found that a $2 kilo of coffee from Brazil should include charges for underpayment of farmers, unsustainable water use, air pollution, climate-changing energy supplies, and land degradation.

  For a total true price of $5.17 per kilo. Add that up for a full meal, across a city, around the world, and you see how the real price of our food adds up to a need for real change. Tackling these hidden costs doesn’t have to mean higher overall prices. In fact, as externalities factor into the price of production, the broader environmental, social and health costs come down, reducing our overall impact on the world.

  So, how do we get closer to a system that values the true cost of food?

  What would it mean if food were truly accountable?

  In The Netherlands, early steps are being made so that you can go grocery shopping and pay for goods with the prices of externalities listed. Financial institutions are starting to incorporate true price accounting.

  Rabobank, for example, offers interest rate discounts to farmers with a higher sustainability performance, helping to offset part of the additional costs associated with making production more sustainable. And, on a global scale, governments are beginning to test true cost accounting in land-use policies and forecasting.

  When we’re all more aware of the boader costs that the products we purchase have , we can start making choices that reflect the true , complete impact our food has on the world .