Suppose the economy initially produces 15 million pounds of food and 400,000 tons of coal, which is represented by point a. the opportunity cost of producing an additional 5 million pounds of food (that is, moving production to point b. is tons of coal. suppose, instead, that the economy currently produces 336,000 tons of coal and 20 million pounds of food, which is represented by point b. now the opportunity cost of producing an additional 5 million pounds of food (that is, moving to point c. is tons of coal. comparing your answers in the two previous paragraphs, you can see that the opportunity cost of 5 million additional pounds of food at point b is the opportunity cost of 5 million additional pounds of food at point a. this reflects the