The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) has released a new report titled Net Gain or Net Drain? which sets out a process for critically assessing the narratives of food corporations.

Authored by Dr Dolly van Tulleken and Hannah Haggie, with research support from Chris Thoung and contributions from senior economists and policy experts including Professor Tim Jackson, the report applies a rigorous value framework to examine the true performance of the UK agri-food system. Rather than accepting industry claims about jobs, investment and growth, it highlights the hidden social, environmental and health costs that undermine these narratives and proposes a more holistic method for assessing the real contribution of farming, processing and the corporations that dominate the food system.

In a complementary blog titled The High Price of Cheap Food, Professor Tim Jackson underscores the scale of the hidden burdens identified in the report. He notes that food related chronic disease alone carries an economic cost of around £268 billion each year and argues that the prevailing model of cheap food represents a false economy where profits are captured privately while the long term costs in healthcare, productivity and social wellbeing are borne by the public. Dr van Tulleken brings deep public health and policy expertise to this work. A Visiting Researcher at Cambridge University’s MRC Epidemiology Unit, she completed her PhD on the evolution of UK childhood obesity policy and has previously worked on the links between diet, deprivation and health outcomes. In 2024, Dr van Tulleken co-authored the report Nourishing Britain: A Political Manual For Improving The Nation’s Health with Henry Dimbleby.

The release of Net Gain or Net Drain? comes at a pivotal moment following the publication of the new Lancet Series on ultra processed foods and human health. The Lancet analysis represents the most comprehensive review to date linking high consumption of ultra processed foods to increased risks of chronic disease across multiple organ systems. This international evidence strengthens the report’s central argument that the current food system is both economically inefficient once health and social costs are considered and fundamentally inequitable. The FFCC report offers timely and persuasive insights for policymakers and funders seeking to reshape food systems in ways that improve public health, support farmers and protect the environment.

You can download the report here.