Welcome to the Beehive Episode 5: What does food really cost?

The price we pay at the supermarket rarely reflects the full story. Behind every product lies a set of hidden costs — greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and labor conditions that aren't captured at the point of sale. These costs are real; they're simply passed on to the environment, to communities, and to future generations. True Price is a methodology that makes these hidden costs visible. By calculating the social and environmental externalities embedded in food production, it gives governments, businesses, and consumers a clearer picture of what sustainable food systems actually require — and what our current ones leave unpaid. In this episode, we speak with Lisette van Benthum, partnership builder at the Netherlands Food Partnership, about the Global Partnership for the True Price of Food (GPTPF). Lisette shares how the GPTPF brings together governments, knowledge institutions, businesses, and civil society organizations to integrate true pricing into food policy and practice — and what NFP's role is in helping to coordinate that collaboration. The conversation covers what true pricing looks like in practice, how pilot projects are being developed and scaled, and what it will take to shift from a food system built around the lowest price to one built around a fair one — for producers, consumers, and the planet alike.