The true cost of Australia’s food system
As both a radical mindset shift and a methodology, True Cost Accounting is one of the most powerful levers of change, applicable to policy and practice to facilitate breaking away from the status quo and transforming food systems
Ruth Richardson, in Richardson, R. (2021). We know how to act. Nature Food, 2(9), 635-636.
Food System Horizons is building a coalition of partners to help develop and adopt true cost methods appropriate for Australia’s food system.
A renewed global focus on monitoring and managing sustainability is creating pressure for Australia to join international efforts to report on the true cost of food. Australia has a window of opportunity to join and lead global efforts to estimate and manage the hidden costs of food.
The hidden costs of food vary from country to country, but are significant. Emerging estimates suggest that these sustainability and social costs to society are much larger than previously thought. A recent global assessment by the FAO State of Food and Agriculture[1] found that the hidden cost of the global food system could equate to 10 trillion USD or more at 2020 purchasing power parity. Environmental costs, while not exhaustive, constituted over 20 percent of these hidden costs, and are equivalent to almost one-third of agricultural value added. In Australia, the cost of obesity is estimated to be AUD 11.8 billion, including $5.4 billion in direct health costs and $6.4 billion in indirect costs[2].
Factors contributing to the true cost of food can include food waste, biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, water and air pollution, subsidies, acidification, blue water withdrawal, insufficient animal and human welfare, unfair wages, child labour, poor working conditions, antimicrobial resistance, zoonoses or malnutrition due to unhealthy diets, and food insecurity.
Some of the factors contributing to the true cost of food
Estimating and managing these hidden costs provides a practical pathway for governments and industry to work towards more sustainable, equitable and nutritious food systems. In Australia, estimates of the true cost of food are already being generated using international methodologies that poorly reflect the risks and opportunities in Australia’s agrifood system.
[1] FAO. 2023. The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 – Revealing the true cost of food to transform agrifood systems. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc7724en
[2] Collective for Action on Obesity, 2019. Weighing in: Australia’s growing obesity epidemic. Available at: https://apo.org.au/node/227226
Contact Dr Cécile Godde to learn more.