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How you can save $2.00 of externalities when you buy a loaf of bread

4/12/2022

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A growing number of people purchase bread from neighbourhood bakeries who use locally-sourced organic grains. We do it because we love the taste and for sustainability reasons. Based on some preliminary analysis I found that each loaf purchased represents about $2.03 per loaf in terms of social and ecological benefits!*

First, choosing bread with organically grown grain can improve externalities by 20 cents per loaf, which includes 6 cents for avoided costs related to using pesticides (e.g., effects on human health, related clean-up costs, environmental damage), 7 cents for avoided costs due to GHG emissions associated with creating, transporting and applying off-farm fertilizers, and about 7 cents thanks to positive externalities from carbon sequestration (from using practices like no-till agriculture). 

Second, choosing a locally-owned and sourced bakery creates about $1.66 per loaf in terms of positive externalities for the local economy. This includes about 3 cents per loaf for avoiding GHG expense for transporting grains and another $1.62 for hiring local suppliers, accountants, lawyers, subcontracting, marketing and so on (vs. sending money to have these services performed in a faraway headquarters). 

Third, about 18 cents of positive externalities are created if even 10% of the staff had faced multiple barriers to employment (e.g., previously on social assistance). This does not include benefits of paying a living wage, of job satisfaction working in a local artisanal vs industrial bakery, of nutritional advantages associated with sourdough breads, and so on. It also does not measure possible energy efficiencies of baking bread at different scales. 

* Note: Figures are based on a loaf that is 675gram (1.5 lb) and in Canadian dollars.
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    Bruno Dyck

    Bruno is an organizational theorist at the University of Manitoba. He loves being a management professor, scholar and teacher.

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​EMAIL BRUNO
​BRUNO DYCK
Bruno Dyck enjoys collaborating with managers, scholars, and students to promote SET management principles and practices. He is a Full Professor in the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, and has published several prize-winning books and articles, and won awards for research and teaching, including the 2019 Expanded Reason Award. Bruno enjoys cycling to work year-round, becoming a vegetarian, buying local goods and services, hiking, and spending time with family and friends.

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EMAIL DAVID
DAVID HOLCOMB
​David Holcomb has assisted in the launch of this website -- developing ideas in conversation with Bruno and turning those ideas into reality. For the past 35 years, business for the common good has been one of David's vocational anchors. He has completed graduate work in both business and theological studies and has worked in both fields. Currently David resides with his family in Milwaukie, Oregon, where he serves as the Director of Finance and Operations with a local non-profit. 
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