RESOURCE
Published by CSIRO and The University of Queensland, ‘The state of Australia’s food system’ reveals the true cost of food in Australia. The report details nutrition, retail environment, policy coherence, food safety, Indigenous food systems, sustainability, circular economy, life cycle assessment, hidden costs, economics, an manufacturing, examining their current state, challenges, and opportunities.
Hidden Costs
Estimating the hidden costs of Australia’s food system provides an opportunity to manage and avoid them. Recent estimates account for the true cost of food in Australia at 98-274 billion in 2022 – giving us the highest hidden cost per capita globally.
Hidden costs are estimated through GDP lost from unintended effects. These include animal welfare, human health, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and degradation of water, air and soil resources, as well as food waste, insecurity and malnutrition, greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen pollution, land-use change, and non-communicable diseases from unhealthy foods.
Environmental costs (35-85% of hidden costs) result in losses in agricultural and labour productivity, and ecosystem services, while health costs (18-65%) arise largely from unhealthy diets and impact labour productivity.
Failing to account for environmental and social impacts of food systems reduces market incentive to manage them, meaning these impacts tend to grow in tandem as economic growth is pursued.
Hidden costs are often worn by individuals, communities, and industries who may or may not be directly involved in the food system, and as an export-driven nation, Australia absorbs most of these costs externally, while providing outputs to other nations.
The true value of Australia’s food system is consistently obfuscated by narrowly focusing on the economics of agricultural production and exports, which de-prioritises health and environmental outcomes. Broadening the way we measure our food systems is also necessary for understanding longer-term economic impacts.
Disproportionate attention on single indicators like GHG emissions further reduces the ability to capture true environmental costs. A shift towards a more holistic view of sustainability is needed to effectively capture and manage these costs.
Ultimately, expanding how we value Australia’s food system, beyond its direct economic contribution of $800 billion, to account for the true value it offers our society, is absolutely essential for improved environmental and health outcomes, and food security.
Policy Coherence
While efforts at cross-sector coordination are being made across Australia, the food system lacks policy coherence. Food-related policy is fragmented across 11 departments, and between local, state, and federal governments.
Competing interests from different departments are hindering an integrated, holistic approach to managing our food systems. The production sector and its relevant departments are driven largely by production metrics and securing higher prices, while social the social sector pushes for lower prices to meet the needs of vulnerable people.
This lack of coherence in Australia’s food policy is due to limited recognition of the complex interactions within food systems, and poorly allocated responsibility for their management.
Sectoral interests need to be subordinated to meet wider societal goals.
Indigenous Food Systems
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have managed complex, healthy and equitable food systems for over 60,000 years. These food systems were and are highly diverse, but have been disrupted and reshaped by the ongoing processes of colonialisation. Recognising this is vital for repairing and enabling food sovereignty – the self-determination of First Nations people and the restoration of sustainable, cultural, nutritious food systems. Food sovereignty is essential for ensuring capital generated from Indigenous led and owned food production, processing, and distribution is retained within rightful communities. Avoiding co-optation in this sense does not preclude Indigenous food systems from playing a crucial role in regenerating whole systems. The opposite is true. Indigenous knowledge is crucial for sustainable transformations of food systems but remains marginalised in policy and practice.
Imbuing Indigenous approaches to food system management into nation-wide strategies, if done a culturally sensitive, participatory manner, would create an equitable food system involving ‘the totality of human agencies (knowledge, strategies, techniques, values, sharing) for the production, generation, utilisation, access, availability, stability and management of food that is nutritious, culturally and spiritually fulfilling and sustainable for future generations.’ (The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2021).
