Post-farmgate food value chains make up most of consumer food expenditures globally.

Progress towards many United Nations Sustainable Development Goals depends on interventions in food value chains, yet data and methods have thus far limited the production of cross-nationally comparable estimates of food value chains' magnitudes. Here we develop a standardized method and data series to estimate the distribution of consumer food expenditures between value-added activities on farms and in the post-farmgate value chain. Using data from 61 countries over 2005-2015, representing 90% of the global economy, we show that farmers receive, on average, 27% of consumer expenditure on foods consumed at home and a far lower percentage of food consumed away from home. That figure consistently falls in the 16-38% range for middle- and high-income countries and falls significantly as incomes rise. The large and growing post-farmgate food value chain merits greater attention as the world grapples with the economic, environmental and social impacts of food systems.