{"id":18245,"date":"2021-11-02T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18245"},"modified":"2021-10-20T14:08:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T18:08:01","slug":"report-estimates-the-true-cost-of-food-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/11\/02\/report-estimates-the-true-cost-of-food-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Estimates the True Cost of Food in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-2021-10-20-at-12-00-42-True-Cost-of-Food-Report-Executive-Summary-Final-pdf-300x232.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-2021-10-20-at-12-00-42-True-Cost-of-Food-Report-Executive-Summary-Final-pdf-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-2021-10-20-at-12-00-42-True-Cost-of-Food-Report-Executive-Summary-Final-pdf-768x594.png 768w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-2021-10-20-at-12-00-42-True-Cost-of-Food-Report-Executive-Summary-Final-pdf.png 776w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rockefeller Foundation recently published a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockefellerfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/True-Cost-of-Food-Report-Executive-Summary-Final.pdf\">report\non the true cost of food in the US<\/a>. This report is an attempt to measure\nthe costs to our health, environment, and society of the current food\nproduction system. The report points out that in 2019, American consumers spent\nan estimated $1.1 trillion on food. Yes, that is trillion with 9 zeroes after\nthe 1! That\u2019s what we pay for labor, food production, &nbsp;processing, and transportation. Despite the\nenormity of this number, the report\u2019s authors estimate that the true cost of\nfood is at least three times higher \u2013 $3.2 billion per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report provides the following estimates of \u201chidden\u201d\ncosts of the US food system:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Human health $1.1 trillion per year \u2013 this\nincludes direct health care costs and the cost of lost productivity due to\ndiet-related diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer diabetes; the cost\nof workplace injuries and the effects of pollution due to food production on\nhealth<\/li><li>Environment $350 billion per year \u2013 includes\ngreenhouse gas emissions, water use, and soil erosion related to food\nproduction<\/li><li>Biodiversity loss $455 billion per year \u2013\nincludes land use and pollution\u2019s effect on biodiversity<\/li><li>Livelihood $100 billion per year \u2013 includes the societal\ncosts of child labor, unlivable wages, lack of benefits, and the cost of\noccupational safety and health<\/li><li>Economy $21 billion per year \u2013 includes\nagricultural subsidies that are not accounted for in food prices<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These costs are disproportionately borne by communities of\ncolor, as the report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rockefellerfoundation.org\/report\/true-cost-of-food-measuring-what-matters-to-transform-the-u-s-food-system\/\">details<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A limitation of this report is that it did not assign a\nmonetary value to animal suffering. The authors call for additional study of\nthe true cost of animal food production in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may be wondering how the information in this report\nmight be used. Possibilities include using this information to promote change\nin terms of fair wages, safer conditions for workers, subsidies and incentives\nfor farmers and manufacturers, environmental regulations, and other\nfood-related decisions that impact our health, the health of others, and the\nplanet. Our food choices have costs and it is important to be aware of these\nand to work for systemic change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD The Rockefeller Foundation recently published a report on the true cost of food in the US. This report is an attempt to measure the costs to our health, environment, and society of the current food production system. The report points out that in 2019, American consumers spent an estimated $1.1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18247,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18245\/revisions\/18247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}