Jenn Yates, Director, TCA Accelerator

This article is adapted from remarks delivered by TCA Accelerator Director Jenn Yates at the World Farmers Market Coalition (WFMC) General Assembly on True Cost Accounting as a tool to more effectively convey the full value of farmers markets, revealing their multiple benefits for community, health, and nature.

Earlier at this gathering, WFMC Director General Carmelo Troccoli expressed his wish for “a record on the real value of farmers markets,” a sentiment that has been echoed by many speakers at this General Assembly. We know that farmers markets are more than just places to buy food. When we talk about these spaces, we use words like “joy” and “togetherness” and “culture.” And we understand that the food itself is connected to greater benefits for our health, our local communities, and nature.

Still, we have to express this value in terms that make sense to government and business leaders if we want to deliver the large-scale systemic change that is needed to address major global challenges. True Cost Accounting is a tool that can help us to measure and communicate the positive and negative impacts of different farming systems, and use this knowledge to transform our food systems.

Over the last century, public and private support for agriculture has largely supported approaches that in turn create additional costs — to human health, to nature, and to our communities. These costs are not paid for at their source or reflected in market prices. Last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calculated that these “hidden” costs total at least $10 trillion in a single year, or equal to 10% of all global economic activity.

Meanwhile, we are failing to capture and invest in approaches that build value for people, communities and nature. Approaches like those used by the producers who supply farmers markets. Producers who work hard but are not rewarded for the benefits they provide for people and nature – and most shamefully, who often cannot afford the healthy food sold at the markets they supply.

However, this is starting to change. Although there are no existing studies on the holistic impacts of farmers markets, we can look to other case studies that show TCA’s potential to illuminate approaches that generate a broad array of societal benefits and deserve greater public and private support.

In Andhra Pradesh, India, a government program supported 600,000 farmers to transition to agroecology. This transition launched peer-to-peer educational programs, including women-led cooperative exchanges. When the results of this system were analyzed in comparison with three other conventional farming systems in the region, it was revealed that:

• Yields increased 11%, and farmer net income increased 49%.
• Participating farmers had 88% higher crop diversity, and there was over 50% reduction in the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
• Farmers in the program had 26% lower health costs and higher productivity than conventional farmers in the region.
• The farmers’ families also had a more diverse diet and ate more fruit and vegetables.
• The program led to increased social capital including information sharing, collective action, trust and support, and community cohesion.
• Women significantly influenced social capital – particularly knowledge sharing, cohesion, trust and support.
• Smaller farms had higher social capital than larger farms, while farms in the program had greater social capital compared to non-program farms.

Another study, in Mexico and Ecuador, explored the value provided to society by the genetic resources of native maize varieties, and the agricultural methods used to cultivate them. The study analyzed how different agricultural methods erode, maintain, or enhance ecosystem services, to understand the value of evolutionary services. This was done by comparing smallholder maize farmers and intensive maize production.

The study found that globally, we are highly dependent on these evolutionary services – smallholders maintain and generate genetic diversity through their agricultural practices, producing maize in diverse environments in harmony with maize’s wild relatives. Maize has important cultural significance in these countries, and the study found that the value of rainfed maize grown by smallholder farmers was 19 times higher than the market price for white maize grain. This value was assigned due to native maize’s adaptability to different environments, better management of pathogens and pests, and its cultural, spiritual, religious and culinary distinctions.

We can measure the real value of farmers markets and other local food systems. Using TCA, we can advocate for policies that incentivize these processes, and remove incentives from approaches that are causing irreparable harm to humans and the planet.