We have devised a distorting economics which ignores certain “negative externalities”, including the detrimental impacts of industrial agriculture on human health, natural resources and wildlife.
These negative externalities represent a market failure as the costs associated with them are borne by third parties or society as a whole and are not included in the costs paid by farmers or the prices paid by consumers.
In some cases the costs are borne by no-one and key resources such as soil and biodiversity are allowed to deteriorate thereby undermining the ability of future generations to feed themselves.
This new report examines the costs of industrial farming’s negative impact on health and natural resources and looks at how we can mend our price system to help us move to a sustainable, humane livestock sector.