The Hidden Costs of Our Food System for People, Animals, and the Planet

The price of food doesn’t actually tell us what it costs to produce it. For Dom Altomari, uncovering those hidden costs is essential to understanding what a truly sustainable food system would look like. They have spent much of their career following the connections between food and sustainability, from their beginnings in professional kitchens to more recent work in advocacy and communications. While a package of meat at the grocery store has a dollar price on it, that number doesn’t reflect the full costs of producing it. Left out of the equation are the land, water, fertilizer, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and impact on local communities, workers, and the animals themselves. Dom asks us to look honestly at what happens when we build our food system on a foundation that often harms the communities and environment we depend on. They argue that a sustainable food system needs to consider more than emissions. It also needs to look at public health, food accessibility, food waste, and natural resources. They point out that animal welfare can’t be separated from conversations about sustainability. They discuss the conditions animals experience in industrial agriculture, the human toll on workers in slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities, and the health risks that can emerge from highly concentrated food systems. Dom calls on individuals to create pressure on corporations and policymakers while asking harder questions about where food comes from, who produced and processed it, what impact that production has on the land and water, and what costs and harms may not be reflected in the price. Ultimately, Dom challenges the idea that humans exist apart from nature and that food production, public health, biodiversity loss, climate change, and animal suffering are separate issues. They are interconnected parts of the same ecosystem, and understanding those connections will help us build a food system that is sustainable for people, animals, and the planet. LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST