The State of Food and Agriculture 2024

Core messages

  1. 1 Using true cost accounting (TCA), The State of Food and Agriculture 2023 presented preliminary estimates of the global hidden costs of agrifood systems and stressed the urgent need to address them. This edition refines these estimates, confirming that the global quantified hidden costs of agrifood systems exceed 10 trillion dollars at 2020 purchasing power parity (PPP). Strategic actions are needed by all actors to enhance the value of agrifood systems to society.
  2. 2 Unhealthy dietary patterns related to non-communicable diseases account for 70 percent of all quantified hidden costs. The biggest global risk factors are low intake of whole grains, high intake of sodium, and low intake of fruits. Due to data constraints, undernutrition costs (wasting, stunting, and micronutrient deficiency) were not calculated, making these figures for health hidden costs a lower bound.
  3. 3 This report adopts an agrifood systems typology with six categories – protracted crisis, traditional, expanding, diversifying, formalizing and industrial. Based on this typology, it analyses the quantified hidden costs for 153 countries, covering 99 percent of the world’s population. Industrial and diversifying agrifood systems account for the highest global quantified hidden costs (amounting to 5.9 trillion 2020 PPP dollars), and these are dominated by health hidden costs.
  4. 4 No single transformational strategy exists, given the diversity of possible policy interventions and investments. In the historical transition from traditional to industrial agrifood systems, both outcomes and hidden costs vary. While there is scope for improving efficiency and safety, care must be taken to avoid exacerbating power imbalances, environmental and social hidden costs, and unhealthy dietary transitions.
  5. 5 Environmental hidden costs are largest in diversifying agrifood systems (720 billion 2020 PPP dollars), followed by formalizing and industrial. However, countries in protracted crisis are the most burdened by environmental hidden costs, when considered as a share of their gross domestic product (GDP) (20 percent).
  6. 6 Social hidden costs are prevalent in traditional and protracted crisis agrifood systems, accounting for 8 and 18 percent of GDP, respectively. These costs – driven by undernourishment and poverty – emphasize the importance of raising livelihoods and bridging the humanitarian–development–peace nexus.
  7. 7 Health hidden costs are relevant across all agrifood systems categories. The leading dietary risk related to non-communicable diseases is low consumption of whole grains in all agrifood systems except protracted crisis and traditional, where the greatest risk is low intake of fruits and vegetables.
  8. 8 In countries and territories with formalizing and industrial agrifood systems, diets high in red and processed meat as well as sodium are significant. Food-based dietary guidelines need to take into account such patterns to more effectively promote healthy diets that decrease health hidden costs.
  9. 9 Transforming agrifood systems to reduce hidden costs will improve well-being. However, the distribution of benefits and costs will be uneven across different stakeholders, countries and time frames.
  10. 10 Everyone has a role to play in driving agrifood systems transformation. It is crucial to integrate efforts made within agrifood systems – such as those made by the public and private sectors, research institutions and civil society.
  11. 11 In increasingly global food supply chains, power imbalances often shift the burden of change onto vulnerable parties such as producers, who end up facing higher regulatory costs and downward price pressures. In contrast, the benefits of change may be reaped by parties who avoid or pass on additional costs. It is possible to minimize business disruption by staying ahead of anticipated regulatory change and adopting early on sustainable and fair practices.
  12. 12 Consumers can influence agrifood systems through their purchasing decisions by choosing products that are sustainably produced and healthy. Financial incentives, information and educational programmes, and regulations can support this shift, ensuring that even vulnerable households can participate in and benefit from these changes.
  13. 13 The significant purchasing power of institutions can be leveraged to reshape food supply chains and improve food environments. By encouraging consumption of sustainable and nutritious foods, these institutions can influence consumption patterns over generations. This impact can be further enhanced when paired with comprehensive food and nutrition education.
  14. 14 Targeted TCA assessments of agrifood systems carried out across varying levels – from product and value chain to national – can help public and private decision-makers assess priorities and manage trade-offs. Strong consultative engagement of agrifood systems stakeholders identifies effective and fair actions.
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