Natural Capital: What Is the True Cost of Food?

Food prices may not reflect the full costs to the environment, including pesticides during the growing phase or wastewater after processing. The loss of clean water, fertile soil and other features of nature can exacerbate droughts, food shortages and wildfires. Trucost is using mathematical models and “attempting to identify the value lost when companies destroy or pollute the environment,” reports Anna Behrend for Spiegel International. “Prices would differ depending on where and how a product is produced.” Trucost suggests that water-intensive crops grown in areas with water shortages should be priced higher, but concedes that, as Behrend puts it, “change will come once damaging incentives are eliminated – such as subsidies for fossil fuels, excessive fertilization and water in arid regions. Raising awareness about the long-term toll on water and land may be as effective as pricing with some farmers returning to traditional methods to avoid over-fertilization. – YaleGlobal