The future of agriculture and food: Evaluating the holistic costs and benefits

Sandhu, Harpinder; Müller, Alexander; Sukhdev, Pavan; Merrigan, Kathleen A.; Tenkouano, A.; Kumar, Pushpam; Hussain, Salman; Zhang, Wei; Pengue, Walter; Gemmill-Herren, Barbara; Hamm, Michael W.; Pahlen, Maria Cristina Tirado von der; Obst, Carl; Sharma, Kavita; Gundimeda, Haripriya; Markandya, Anil; May, Peter H.; Platais, Gunars; Weigelt, Jes

doi:10.1177/2053019619872808

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The main aim of TCA in food systems is to create just and fair food systems that meet the current need for food and also meet the future need by promoting the sustainable use of resources. TCA analysis can be applied to assess agri-products, compare different diets, farming systems, farm and food policies, and national accounts or corporate balance sheets [2,3]. The TCA approach does not necessarily mean monetising all the costs and benefits associated with food systems.…”

Section: Economic Foundations Of Tcamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, about 690 million people do not have access to food, and 2 billion do not have regular access to nutritious food [1]. There is growing awareness that the global agriculture and food systems will not be able to meet the targets set up by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in meeting the demand for safe, healthy and nutritious food by more than 9 billion people by 2030 [2,3]. It is also realised worldwide that the food systems that include production, processing, distribution and consumption have massive impacts on the environment and climate [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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True Cost Accounting of Food Using Farm Level Metrics: A New Framework

2021

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The application of true cost accounting (TCA) at farm level requires a common framework and metric for measuring, capturing and valuing sustainability. We propose such a framework and farm metric that build on the four capitals—natural, social, human and produced—that are essential for sustainability. The framework is developed by reviewing the scientific and technical literature on various approaches and tools that have been used to measure farm sustainability. We use quantifiable aspects of sustainability in the farm metrics. The farm sustainability metrics comprise four capitals with 11 categories and 33 indicators. These indicators can be assessed using bio-physical assessment, descriptive or quantitative methods. Once this information is compiled for a farm, then some of the categories can be monetised to reflect all the costs and benefits of using state-of-the-art TCA. There is a need to establish benchmarks and standards for each of the four types of capitals and indicators for the comparison of food systems. We believe the use of this comprehensive framework and farm metrics will help to correct several deficiencies of the current food system. We conclude by highlighting the benefits and limitations in the use of farm metrics. Measuring all positive and negative externalities at farm level can shift global food systems towards sustainability.

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Section: Economic Foundations Of Tcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

True Cost Accounting of Food Using Farm Level Metrics: A New Framework

2021

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“…This organization aims to advance accountability of products and sources through traceable product lines and created a 23-point system to evaluate product traceability. Alternatively, there are other evaluation systems such as Life Cycle Analysis, True Cost Accounting, and the TEEBAgriFood evaluation framework that aim to holistically assess sustainability across food supply chains (Hauschild et al, 2018;Sandhu et al, 2019;Sustainable Food Trust 2019).…”

Section: Examples Of Chef and Culinary Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooking up Diverse Diets: Advancing Biodiversity in Food and Agriculture through Collaborations with Chefs

Moreau

Speight

2019

Crop Science

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F ood and agricultural systems are challenged to address their negative impacts on climate, biodiversity, soil health, human nutrition, human health, and the environment (FAO, 2019;Maxwell et al., 2016). Biodiversity in and across food and agriculture systems provides valuable ecosystem services to present and future generations (Newbold et al., 2015), yet we are losing genes, species, and ecosystems faster than we can account for them. With one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction, our society is challenged to address the drivers of ecosystem degradation and species loss (IPBES, 2019). Public engagement is important to increase support for agroecology and biodiversity in food and agriculture. Recent efforts at the "Celebrating Crop Diversity: Connecting Agriculture, Public Gardens and Science Symposium" brought together diverse stakeholders from agricultural science, botanical gardens, plant breeders, land managers, food educators, and government bodies. The goal of this symposium was to connect diverse stakeholders involved with crop diversity and to co-create a roadmap for conservation, use, and public engagement of crop wild relatives in North America (Khoury et al., 2019). Although not present at the symposium, chefs were commonly highlighted as important allies in plant conservation through their direct role with consumers and their ability to introduce and integrate lesser known plants into diets. In this report, we share examples of chefs creating new menus and tastes to impact agriculture, diets, and

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“…Meeting the food demand of increasing human population requires increased production and also a major policy shift in the way food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed [1][2][3] . Another key challenge of global agriculture is to minimize impacts on environment and human health 4,5 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the holistic costs and benefits of corn production systems in Minnesota, US

Sandhu

Scialabba

Warner³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Global agriculture aims to minimize its impacts on environment and human health while maintaining its productivity. This requires a comprehensive understanding of its benefits and costs to ecosystems and society. Here, we apply a new evaluation framework developed by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEBAgriFood) to assess key benefits and costs on the production side of genetically modified (GM) and organic corn systems in Minnesota, USA. The market value of GM corn is $4.5 billion, and only $31.8 million for organic corn using production data and market prices of 2017. GM corn generates revenue of $1488 per hectare (at $121 per MT), which is significantly lower than the organic corn at $2793 per hectare (at $294 per MT). Using a novel three-stage wellbeing valuation, analysis of the associations between corn production intensity and subjective measures of general health and wellbeing indicates that the total non-financial health cost associated with GM corn is $427.50 per hectare or $1.3 billion annually. We also find that the total annual environmental cost associated with GM corn production is $179 per hectare or $557.65 million within Minnesota. The use of the evaluation framework can help to improve decision making at farm and policy level to develop sustainable agriculture in order to minimize environmental and health related costs to society and economy.

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The future of agriculture and food: Evaluating the holistic costs and benefits

Cited by 14 publications

References 20 publications

True Cost Accounting of Food Using Farm Level Metrics: A New Framework

True Cost Accounting of Food Using Farm Level Metrics: A New Framework

Cooking up Diverse Diets: Advancing Biodiversity in Food and Agriculture through Collaborations with Chefs

Evaluating the holistic costs and benefits of corn production systems in Minnesota, US

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