Giving Compass' Take:

• Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEBAgriFood) published a report that evaluates our food processes. The organization hopes to information on costs and environmental aspects of how food gets to our plates.

• How can we start to think about the value of food more holistically? 

• There is a growing amount of research related to agroecology, a hopeful alternative that will help create sustainable agricultural. 

Professor Jules Pretty is an author and academic whose work focuses on sustainable agriculture and the relationship between people and the land.

He is on the Steering Committee for a new, ground-breaking report from the Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEBAgriFood). This report addresses how to evaluate our agriculture and food systems while considering a range of social, human, and environmental dimensions across the value chain.

The goal of TEEBAgriFood is more comprehensively to determine the absolute costs, benefits, and dependencies of agriculture and food production.  What makes some produce less expensive in most supermarkets is in part the use of cheap—often subsidized—fertilizers and pesticides, but that retail price does not take into account the hidden costs like environmental damage from runoff or human impacts on life and livelihoods.

Conversely, these prices do not recognize the positive benefits created by more sustainable forms of agriculture. If we want accurately to price food, all these side effects, or externalities, need to be accounted for. TEEBAgriFood is creating a framework for assessing all the impacts of food, from farm to fork to disposal, including effects on livelihoods, the environment, and human health. This can help farmers, decision makers, and businesses more accurately look at the impacts of different practices and policies.

Food Tank had the opportunity to discuss the TEEBAgriFood report and the connections between food, environment, and human health with Professor Jules Pretty.

FT: What is the most significant unintended consequence of our current food system that policymakers, funders, and donors ignore?

JP: I would say the health costs of modern, processed foods. We have been identifying and costing the environmental costs for many years now, and are getting better, but in the end, we need food systems to produce healthy food and improve natural capital.

Read the full article about sustainable agriculture by Brian Frederick at Food Tank.