This report is the second consecutive edition of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’s flagship SOFA series focused on true cost accounting. It examines hidden environmental, social and health costs of agrifood systems and promotes value-driven, evidence-based policies for sustainable, equitable transformation.
Resources
The resources below are a selection of True Cost Accounting frameworks, guidance, and case studies. These tools and materials can be used to inform decisions that must balance tradeoffs and budgets while enhancing value to society and the environment.
The State of Food and Agriculture 2024
Growing Better: Ten Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use
Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU)
A report that indicates the dominant industrial food system incurs ‘hidden’ costs estimated at almost $12 trillion per year, and presents a reform agenda – centered around ten critical transitions.
Natural Farming through a Wide Angle Lens: True Cost Accounting Study of Community-Managed Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh, India
GIST Impact and Global Alliance for the Future of Food
Researchers conducted a TCA analysis that compared the economic, social, and health impacts of common farming systems in Andhra Pradesh, India. The study found that agroecological practices can create resilient and productive food systems while promoting social and economic well-being.
True Value: Revealing the Positive Impacts of Food Systems Transformation
Global Alliance for the Future of Food and TMG Think Tank for Sustainability
An overview of six food systems initiatives that used TCA to understand the breadth and depth of their positive impacts.
The Hidden Cost of UK Food
Sustainable Food Trust
Using TCA, this report finds that UK citizens pay twice as much for food as they realize. More TCA-focused resources from the SFTÂ can be found here.
True Cost of Food: School Meals Case Study
Center for Good Food Purchasing and the Rockefeller Foundation
A TCA assessment of school-meals programs, indicating that while they cost $18.7 billion USD/year to run, they provide nearly $40 billion USD in human health and economic benefits.
True Cost of Food: Measuring What Matters to Transform the U.S. Food System
Rockefeller Foundation
A U.S. focused report outlining the true cost of food, including the ‘hidden’ impacts on human health, the environment, biodiversity, livelihoods, proving that they are at least 3x higher than what consumers already pay.
True Cost Accounting and Dietary Patterns: An Opportunity for Coherent Food Systems Policy
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and TMG Think Tank for Sustainability
An analysis of the true costs of sustainable and healthy food to develop a concept on how TCA can be argued to policymakers, starting from the vantage point of sustainable diets.
A Tool in the Toolkit: Can True Cost Accounting Remove Siloed Thinking about Food Loss and Waste?
Global Food Security Program
An assessment of how TCA can help overcome siloed thinking and support collaborative efforts to reduce food loss and waste throughout the whole UK food system.
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