你知道每天饮食的真实账单吗？

When you go to a cinema, the movie may cost 5 euros, but this doesn’t cover the external costs like transportation, fuel touse, phone credit to call, snacks and drinks. Likewise, when we go groceryshopping, we only see the price indicated on the product. The shown price is an indication of one part of the costs incurred to produce it, but not the entire one.

当你去电影院时，一部电影可能花费5欧元，但这还不包括外部成本，如交通、燃料、话费、小吃和饮料等。同样，我们去超市购物时，我们只看到了商品上标注的价格。这个显示的价格只是生产成本的一部分，而不是全部。

To help us understand this more, let us follow the journey of a crop. We will use potatoes. If the potato is grown conventionally, it is sprayed with synthetic pesticides and the soil hosting it is covered with chemical fertilizers. This could have an effect on the soil over time in that the organisms that keep the soil alive are destroyed by the chemicals and this leads to the soil losing its ability to retain water. When it rains, soil erosion can occur and all the sprayed chemical substances are washed away as well which can find its way into canals, rivers, lakes and water streams. Aquatic life is affected by this as well as humans. The inability of soil to retain water due intensive chemical use may lead to soil erosion that could also cause flooding.

为了让我们更好地理解这点，我们跟随一种作物（土豆）做个旅程。如果土豆是常规种植的，它会被喷洒合成杀虫剂，种植它的土壤会被化学肥料覆盖。随着时间的推移，这可能会对土壤产生影响，因为保持土壤存活的生物被化学物质破坏，导致土壤失去保水能力。下雨时，会发生土壤侵蚀，所有喷洒的化学物质会被冲走，进入运河、河流、湖泊和溪流。水生生物和人类一样受此影响。由于大量使用化学物质，土壤无法保持水分，这可能导致土壤侵蚀，进而引发洪水。

The community has to pay taxes on one hand,for water treatment to get rid of the toxic chemical substances and on the other hand, for damming or excavation to avoid flooding. In the end, these extra costs that are incurred are paid off by our taxes and then not reflected on the final prices that we see in the supermarket of conventional products.

社区必须纳税，一方面用于水处理以去除有毒化学物质，另一方面，用于筑坝或挖掘以避免洪水。最终，产生的这些额外成本由我们的税收支付，而没有反映在我们在超市看到的传统产品的最终价格上。

One has to think about how a product grown expensively ends up with a lower price than an organically grown product! 人们必须思考一种生产成本昂贵的产品怎么会比有机产品的售价低！

Consumers don’t see that we pay for more external costs through our taxes for water pollution and waste-water facilities caused partly by unsustainable agricultural practices. That is why it is important to have True Cost Accounting (TCA): a transparency tool that makes the hidden calculations visible and shows the consumer the actual price of the product being purchased.

消费者没有意识到，由于不可持续的农业做法，我们通过对水污染和废水处理设施的花费，支付了更多的外部成本。这就是为什么真实成本会计(TCA)是重要的:一个透明的工具，使隐藏的计算可见，并向消费者展示所购买产品的实际价格。

When you do TCA, you are able to assess the impact of a food system as a whole or a farm. One is able to get an adjusted cost of production by calculating the costs for fertilizers, tractors, seeds and also the ecological footprint or climatic impact of the chemical inputs used.

当你做真实成本会计（TCA）时，你能够评估一个食物系统作为一个整体或者一个农场的影响。人们可以通过计算化肥、拖拉机、种子的成本，以及所用化学投入的生态足迹或气候影响，得到调整后的生产成本。

For instance, 1kg of nitrogen fertilizer produces 7kg of carbon dioxide. The market price of nitrogen fertilizer is about 25 cents per kg. If this 1 kg causes 7kg of carbon dioxide, the related climate cost has to be included. According to FAO, 1000 kgs of carbon dioxide is worth or causes damages worth around 100 euros. That results in 10 cents per kg of carbon dioxide, applied to nitrogen fertilizer, this hidden or external costs would lead to an increase of 70 cents per 1kg of nitrogen fertilizer,resulting in a true cost of fertilizer of 95 cent instead of 25 cent current market price.

例如，1公斤氮肥会产生7公斤二氧化碳。氮肥的市场价格大约是每公斤25分。如果这1公斤导致7公斤二氧化碳，相关的气候成本必须包括在内。据粮农组织（FAO）称，1000千克的二氧化碳价值或造成的损失约为100欧元。因此，每公斤二氧化碳10分，用于氮肥，这种隐性或外部成本将导致每公斤氮肥增加70分，导致肥料的实际成本为95分，而不是当前市场价格的25分。

There are organisations like Soil &More Impacts who calculate the total costs and benefits of production,including the hidden costs, of different production systems (organic and conventional systems) and show the findings.

现在，有机构，例如Soil & More Impacts，计算了不同生产方式（有机或者传统生产方式）隐性成本的总成本和收益，包并展示了研究结果。

 Soil & More Impacts的创始人Tobias Bandel

“Farmers farming sustainably have higher ecological benefits since they employ farming practices that encourage biodiversity increase, sequester carbon into the soil, among others. When this carbon footprint is taken into consideration and the cost of production monetized, conventional farming is more expensive than organic.”, explains Tobias Bandel, the Founder of Soil & More Impacts.

“可持续耕作的农民具有更高的生态效益，因为他们采用鼓励生物多样性增加、固碳到土壤中等耕作方法。当考虑到碳足迹和生产成本货币化时，传统农业比有机农业生产成本更昂贵。” Soil & More Impacts 的创始人Tobias Bandel 解释说。

Another way we look at TCA is in line with a farm’s future and profit margins. A big farm that is farming intensively may produce good profits in the first year, but not in 5 years. When the soil is being damaged and stressed, beyond capacity, there might be productivity gaps in 5-10 years as a result of deteorated soils.

我们看待TCA的另一种方式是根据农场的未来和利润率。一个集约型的大农场，第一年可能会有不错的利润，但5年后就不一定了。当土壤受到破坏承压，超过其承受能力时，由于土壤退化，在5-10年内可能会出现生产力缺口。

“We use this risk assessment to show peoplethe damage they do to their businesses by paying low prices and not investing in creating resilient soils, farms and systems. Even the buyer and trader will not be able to buy from a farmer who cannot deliver quality products in 5 years. This may not only cause ecological damages, but also financial ones. This way, banks increasingly include so-called natural capital risks in their credit-worthiness checks of farms and supply-chains”, shares Tobias.

Tobias分享说：“我们利用这种风险评估向人们展示他们支付低价而不投资创造有韧性的土壤、农场和(生态)系统给他们的企业带来的损害。5年后，即使是买方和交易商也无法从不能交付优质产品的农民那里购买产品。这不仅会造成生态破坏，还会造成经济损失。通过这种方式，银行越来越多地将所谓的自然资本风险纳入其对农场和供应链的信用评估中。”

Organic offers solutions to not only reduce the true cost but also increase the true benefits of farming, for example,biodiversity is created, soil’s ability to retain water is increased and carbon is sequestered. Organic and agroecology show solutions to farm in a way which costs us less and has less damage on our biodiversity. We need more than not applying fertilizers, we need sustainable practices e.g. mulching, crop cover, etc.They help in increasing the resilience of the soil and business aspects. It secures food security. Other systems may appear cheap but would not be able to produce food in the changing climate on the mid- and long-run. It is possible to have low costs and a positive impact. Organic is definitely part of the solution.

有机（农业）提供的解决方案不仅降低了实际成本，还增加了农业的实际收益，例如，创造了生物多样性，提高了土壤保持水分的能力，并固碳。有机农业和农业生态学展示了一种对我们来说成本更低、对生物多样性破坏更小的农业的解决方案。我们需要的不仅仅是不施肥，我们需要可持续的做法，如覆盖、作物覆盖等。它们有助于增加土壤和商业方面的弹性。它确保粮食安全。其他生产方式可能看起来很便宜，但从中长期来看，它们无法在不断变化的气候中生产粮食。有机食品肯定是解决方案的一部分。

What can every-day consumers do to be more aware of hidden costs?

消费者可以怎样更好地意识到每日消费中的隐形成本？

Give food more time! This includes what we shop and consume. Try to find out where your food comes from and the efforts used to produce it. Even when you drink a cup of coffee. There is a lot of sweat and hard work that goes into it that it is impossible for it to only cost a euro. When you buy organic and fairtrade products, at least you have the guarantee that you are consuming products that are having a positive ecological impact on the environment.

给食物更多时间！这包括我们购物和消费的东西。试着找出你的食物的来源，以及生产食物所付出的努力。即使是你喝的一杯咖啡，也有大量的汗水和辛勤工作投入其中，它不可能只花一欧元。当你购买有机和公平贸易产品时，至少你保证你消费的产品对环境有积极的生态影响。

Soil & More Impacts advocates for sustainable agriculture that has a positive impact on the environment, society and the economy. To this end, they support the agri-food sector through sustainability assessments, agricultural consultancy and relevant software solutions.

Soil & More Impacts倡导对环境、社会及经济又正面影响的可持续农业。为此，他们通过可持续性评估、农业咨询和相关软件解决方案支持农业食品部门。

英文原文及图片链接：

https://www.o/2021/06/02/how-much-are-you-really-paying-for-your-food/