Sustainable Agriculture and Food: Four volume set (Earthscan Reference Collections)

External Costs of Agricultural Production in the United States 73

Comparing our findings with a more comprehensive list of agricultural externali-
ties illustrates the incomplete nature of our national tally. For this we turn to social
and natural resource accounting efforts, which attempt to incorporate human and
environmental capital assets and flows into traditional income and product meas-
ures. These assets are not priced in the current market economy and require valu-
ation to be included in social accounts. We refer the reader to other sources for
further information on systems of accounts:

• System of National Accounts (Commission of the European Communities et al,
  1993);


• Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and Economic
  Accounting (United Nations et al, 2003);


• A System of Economic Accounts for Food and Agriculture (Food and Agriculture
  Organization, 1996);


• Environmental Indicators for Agriculture (Organisation for Economic Co-oper-
  ation and Development, 2001).

The environmental indicators listed in Table 3.4 are a combination of those pro-
vided in Environmental Indicators for Agriculture and Cabe and Johnson (1990), as
well as others we have suggested. Please refer to these sources for further explana-
tion of indicators. Also shown in Table 3.4 are the categories for which we have
identified national valuation data.

Table 3.4 Agri-environmental indicators

Indicator National valuation data for the US

Nutrient use: balance, efficiency, human

health risks

Water treatment for nitrates

Pesticide use and risks Water treatment

Hospitalizations, outpatient treatment, loss

of work, fatalities due to accidental

poisonings and treatment costs for

pesticide-induced cancers

Water use: intensity, efficiency, stress

Human health risks of production:

antibiotic use, waterborne and foodborne

pathogens

Water treatment for microbial pathogens

Some household costs for illnesses caused

by common foodborne pathogens Cost to

industry to comply with HACCP rule

Soil erosion by water For cropland erosion only:

Commercial fisheries X

Flood damage X

Industrial users X

Preservation values X

Recreation X