True Cost Accounting

Today’s food prices rarely reflect the full costs of how food is produced. While consumers pay at the checkout, many of the environmental, health and social impacts of food production are paid for elsewhere – through taxes, healthcare costs, environmental clean-up and the depletion of natural resources. Equally, many of the public benefits delivered by sustainable farming, such as healthier soils, cleaner water, biodiversity and resilient rural landscapes, go largely unrewarded. As a result, unsustainable farming practices often remain more financially attractive than those that deliver long-term public value.

True Cost Accounting (TCA) provides a framework for identifying, measuring and, where possible, assigning a monetary value to these hidden costs and benefits. By making them visible, TCA can inform policies and market mechanisms that ensure those responsible for environmental damage bear its costs, while rewarding farmers who deliver positive outcomes for nature, climate and public health.

The Sustainable Food Trust has been at the forefront of developing and promoting this approach, including through its influential Hidden Cost of UK Food report, which estimated that for every £1 spent on food in the UK, society incurs around another £1 in hidden environmental and health costs. Through its independent grant making, the Sustainable Food Alliance has supported this work from the early stages, including helping to convene pioneering international conferences on True Cost Accounting in Kentucky (USA) and London (UK) in 2013, and San Francisco (USA) in 2016. These events brought together scientists, policymakers, healthcare professionals, food industry leaders and civil society to explore how True Cost Accounting could help accelerate the transition to healthier, more resilient and sustainable food systems.

We continue to support organisations that are demonstrating leadership in advancing this agenda.

Click here to view summary proceedings of the True Cost of American Food Conference in San Francisco (2016).