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This research paper, written for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, examines the conceptual and methodological frameworks for full cost accounting (FCA) in agriculture. It defines FCA as the process of valuing environmental and social costs and benefits external to the market, aiming to provide policy makers and farmers with better information for decision-making. The document details various valuation methods—including market-based, circumstantial, and survey-based approaches—and discusses ecosystem frameworks like those from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. It applies these theories to case studies in the UK, Japan, and other regions to illustrate how agricultural externalities, such as water pollution and biodiversity loss, can be quantified.