Imagine if the price you paid for a hamburger included factors such as heart disease, the number one cause of death worldwide; or the runoff of manure spread on fields from concentrated animal feeding operations; or injuries to workers in slaughterhouses and processing plants; or the poor animal welfare practices in livestock operations. It would certainly be more than US$.99 and would not be part of the value menu.

But advocates for more sustainable food production are working with farmers, public health professionals, economists, scientists, and others to account for these hidden costs through True Cost Accounting, which assigns value to the social, environmental and health impacts of producing food. Taking these costs into account is essential; the economic cost of global environmental degradation from industry is estimated at US$2 to US$5 trillion per year.

TCA has the potential to make industrial food production seem unreasonably harmful and expensive and make sustainable food production seem not only necessary, but affordable.

One organization working to apply TCA to the food system is Sustainable Food Trust (SFT), which works toward a food system that causes the least environmental and social harm through research, economic analysis, and international communications partnerships. Their website contains a hub of resources on TCA, and they organize events and conferences on the topic to bring together scientists, policy makers, healthcare and food industry professionals, and members of the public to make TCA a reality.

SFT is one of many organizations making strides on this issue, but there are many others working on True Cost Accounting.

A global initiative to highlight the economic value of biodiversity, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) uses natural capital accounting to quantify the cost of ecosystem loss and environmental degradation. The initiative also has a Business and Enterprise project to guide corporations in taking action to protect ecosystems and biodiversity.

The TEEB Agriculture and Food (TEEBAF) project drafted a concept note which reviews the interdependence between agriculture, food systems, and natural ecosystems. The study analyzed the social, environmental, economic, and health-related costs and benefits of these systems to develop a tool for governments and businesses to improve decision-making.