True Cost Accounting

Currently, it is more profitable to farm unsustainably than it is to farm sustainably. Placing a clear monetary value on the benefits and impacts of different food production systems, would enable the introduction of policy mechanisms to penalize damaging practices and reward the development of systems that deliver positive environmental and public-health outcomes.

The SFA has supported a number of international conferences on this topic, including events in Kentucky (USA) 2013 and London (UK) 2013 and San Francisco (USA) 2016. These conferences convened scientists, policy-makers, healthcare and food industry professionals, press and members of the public for an open discussion about the possibilities for, and barriers to using the discipline of True Cost Accounting to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable food systems. We continue to make grants to the Sustainable Food Trust’s work on True Cost Accounting.

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