Jennifer Clapp

Political Economy of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Op-Eds/Media


 Recent Opinion Pieces

"Food systems sustainability must be prioritized in all its dimensions", FAO Science, Technology and Innovation blog, July 27, 2025. https://www.fao.org/science-technology-and-innovation/blog/detail/sample-blog/2025/07/25/food-systems-sustainability-must-be-prioritized-in-all-its-dimensions/en

"The Hidden Politics and Power of Agribusiness", MIT Press Reader, May 9, 2025: https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-hidden-politics-and-power-of-agribusiness/
Clapp, Jennifer, and Olivier De Schutter. 2025. Project Syndicate. March 18. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/imo-global-fuel-standard-fo...
 "Only political will can end world hunger: Food isn’t scarce, but many people can’t access it", The Conversation, February 12, 2025. https://theconversation.com/only-political-will-can-end-world-hunger-foo...
Clapp, Jennifer and Olivier de Schutter. 2023. “Poland’s grain glut shows our food system is dysfunctional”, Euractiv https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/opinion/polands-grain-glut-shows-our-food-system-is-dysfunctional/
Policy Responses to the Current Food Crisis Must Support Multiple Dimensions of Food Security”, April 26, 2022. HLPE Blog: https://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/news-archive/detail/en/c/1506439/
“Food Price Spikes are About Much More than Ukraine”, (Op-Ed) Civil Eats, May 16.https://civileats.com/2022/05/16/op-ed-food-price-spikes-are-about-much-more-than-ukraine/
“The War in Ukraine Could Spark a Hurricane of Hunger”, Reuters Trust. 31 March 2022 (coauthored with Hilal Elver). https://news.trust.org/item/20220331100348-mcl51/
“Why Reinvent the Wheel on Food Security and Nutrition?” (coauthored with Martin Cole and Thanawat Tiensen.) 2021., Devex, May 21. https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-why-reinvent-the-wheel-on-food-security-and-nutrition-99929
“Spoiled Milk, Rotten Vegetables and a Very Broken Food System"  New York Times, May 8, 2020. Posted online: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/opinion/coronavirus-global-food-supply.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
“Solving our Food Crisis Requires a Fundamental Transformation of the System” – op-ed on IISD website, July 27, 2020: https://www.iisd.org/articles/food-crisis-transform-system   
“Food Policies Should Support Small-Scale Producers,” The Hill Times, February 21, 2018. https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2018/02/21/food-policies-support-small-s...
“Will ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’ Serve the Public Interest - or the Drive for Growing Profits for Private Corporations?” (co-authored with Peter Newell and Zoe W. Brent), The Ecologist, January 19, 2018. https://theecologist.org/2018/jan/19/will-climate-smart-agriculture-serv...
“Agriculture Complicates Trump’s Trade Bluster,” The Hill Times, March 29, 2017. https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2017/03/29/agriculture-complicates-trump...
“Agribusiness Mega-Mergers Won’t Help to Feed the World,” The Hill Times, January 18, 2017.https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2017/01/18/agribusiness-mega-mergers-won...
“Too Much at Stake for Canada to Ignore Agribusiness Mega-Mergers,” The Hill Times, July 13, 2016. https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2016/07/13/too-much-at-stake-for-canada-...
“Bigger isn’t Always Better: What the Proposed Agribusiness Mega Mergers Could Mean for Canada,” Food Secure Canada, September 14, 2016. Posted online: http://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/news-media/big-6-agribusiness....
“Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta: Rush for Mega-mergers Puts Food Security at Risk,” The Guardian, May 5, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/may/05/monsanto-do...
“Individual Diet Changes Can’t Fix the Global Food System,” The Guardian (coauthored with Caitlin Scott), July 11, 2014.https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/food-blog/diet-changes-...

Selected Recent Television, Video, and Documentary Appearances:

The Agenda with Steve Paiken, 2024 (episode on concentration in Canada's food system): https://qa.tvo.org/video/is-monopoly-power-undermining-the-canadian-food...

Who Owns the World - Food, 2024 (TVO documentary series): https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/food

Gluten: Public Enemy? 2021 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14451878/

Paris School of Economics, public lecture (corporate concentration) 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg_lDqZuqEw

IPES-Food, 2023 (on commodity speculation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_pGttjr7Yo

IPES-Food, Food from Somewhere webinar, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIi32iu3H_c

Global Environmental Politics Authors; Insights, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PhNv9I4bQ

Global Food Crisis: A World Going Hungry? DW Television, 2022: https://www.dw.com/en/global-food-crisis-a-world-going-hungry/video-6239...

Presadiretta: Guerra e fame (Italian television documentary), 2022: https://www.raiplay.it/video/2022/08/Guerra-e-fame---Presa-diretta---Puntata-del-29082022-33855a1a-04b4-4484-bc26-c230e5e81ef8.html

An Entire Planet Hungry for Answers, 2017, https://youtu.be/HIeFsVZE8NU?si=BuJpPTvowCjqosBJ

Recent podcast Interviews

Konzernatlas 2026 Podcast (on food systems), January 7, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaJtfUsZGHQ

Digesting Food Studies (power in food systems), December 11, 2025. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5KSldSCyhRZDsWE5MQnNBX
Business Talk with Deepak Bhatt (Titans of Industrial Agriculture), Nov. 20, 2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEM73tayKso

Land and Climate Review (on corporate concentration) – May 7, 2025 https://landclimate.org/monopolies-agricultural-markets/
New Books Network (Titans of Industrial Agriculture) – April 2025 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhrZI0m7lcY 
Eat This Podcast (agricultures overlords) – April 14, 2025 -https://eatthispodcast.com/titans/ 
Sustainability Now! (on Titans of Industrial Agriculture), April 13, 2025 - https://ksqd.org/sustainability-now-sunday-april-13th-titans-of-industrial-agriculture-with-professor-jennifer-clapp-university-of-waterloo/#gsc.tab=0

UNCTAD Tradecast, (on the Future of Food) – February 20, 2025 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fzy1EJjh5I

Table Debates (From horses to AI: How fossil fuels shaped agriculture) – February 13, 2025 - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-horses-to-ai-how-fossil-fuels-shaped-agriculture/id1552165852?i=1000691716921
TIL Climate Podcast – November 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPcMLApmsHA
Fuel to Fork podcast, 2024, featured guest: episode 2 https://tabledebates.org/fueltofork/episode2

Fuel to Fork podcast, 2024, featured guest: episode 3 https://tabledebates.org/fueltofork/episode3

Fuel to Fork podcast, 2024, featured guest: episode 4 https://tabledebates.org/fueltofork/episode4

Science for Policy Podcast, 2021 (on science for food systems policy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BmR-Edrngc

Table Podcast (on the commodification of food), 2022: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode5-rebroadcast

For Food's Sake podcast (on the ABCD Grain trading companies), 2018: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GEMSWMwMUVQqRcF78gHGD

Farmgate podcast (on food price crisis), 2022: https://www.faifarms.com/podcasts/the-food-price-crisis/

Bittman Project (on food crisis, guest with Raj Patel), 2022: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/this-food-crisis-is-courtesy-of-th...

Food Systems Academy with Geoff Tansey, 2021, https://geofftansey.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/creating-foodsecurity-post-...


Recent quotations in the media

Globe and Mail, February 23, 2025 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/article-buy-canadian-products-grocery-shopping-costs/

Globe and Mail, May 6, 2025: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-canadian-shoppers-more-likely-to-buy-local-food-now-than-six-months/

Le Monde, January 2025: https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2025/01/26/jennifer-clapp-economi...

Food Tank, July 2024: https://foodtank.com/news/2024/07/ipes-food-report-highlights-the-importance-of-territorial-markets/

Sustainable Views, May, 2024: https://www.sustainableviews.com/farmland-investment-and-green-grab-threatens-food-security-68ad6ae3/

New York Times, January 2024: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/climate/agriculture-africa-traditional-crops.html

GRAIN, March, 2024: https://grain.org/en/article/7120-food-inflation-the-math-doesn-t-add-up-without-factoring-in-corporate-power

IPS News, October 2024: https://ipsnoticias.net/2024/10/por-que-africa-debe-adoptar-los-mercados-territoriales-ante-las-crisis-climaticas/

Corporate Europe Observatory, September 2024: https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/09/new-agri-mega-merger-where-are-political-rightwingers-when-farmers-need-them

ThinInk Newsletter, January 2024: https://news.thin-ink.net/p/the-initial-countdown

ThinInk Newsletter, October 2024: https://news.thin-ink.net/p/food-in-the-us-elections

Alive Magazine (feature interview), April 2024: https://www.alive.com/sustainability/the-links-that-feed-us/

Vittles Magazine, May 2024 : https://www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/separating-the-weetabix-from-the

Le Monde, February 2023 : https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2023/02/22/la-guerre-en-ukraine-un-revelateur-de-la-crise-alimentaire-mondiale_6162801_3244.html

DeSmog, August 2023: https://www.desmog.com/2023/08/03/un-food-systems-summit-accused-selling-the-corporate-and-industrial-project/

Food Tank, March 2023: https://foodtank.com/news/2023/03/the-relationship-between-debt-and-global-hunger-a-special-ipes-food-report/

Financial Times, June 2023: https://www.ft.com/content/481f3646-6b0f-4512-a0f8-f4746fc4c7ab

Financial Times, December 2023: https://www.ft.com/content/a41ef572-4dcd-4537-9a81-5d700229fb24

DeSmog, December 2023: https://www.desmog.com/2023/12/20/narratives-of-delay-how-the-animal-pharma-industry-resists-moves-to-curb-the-overuse-of-antibiotics-on-farms/

IPS News, October 2024: https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/10/why-africa-should-embrace-territorial-markets-to-withstand-climate-shocks-and-crises/

Food and Power, June 2023: https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/bunge-viterra-merger-june-23

Inside Climate News, Pulitzer Centre. 12 December 2022. https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/climate-change-driving-millions-precipice-raging-food-catastrophe

Inter Press Service News Agency. 11 November 2022. https://www.ipsnews.net/2022/11/market-lords-much-war-behind-worlds-food-crisis/ 

Mongabay. 27 July 2022  https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/did-wall-street-play-a-role-in-this-years-wheat-price-crisis/

Bretton Woods Project. 21 July 2022 https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2022/07/world-bank-and-imfs-response-to-global-food-crisis-misses-mark-as-financial-speculation-drives-food-prices-to-historic-highs/

New Internationalist. 7 June 2022. https://newint.org/features/2022/06/07/ukraine-war-has-hit-africa-food-security

Food Navigator. 6 June 2022. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2022/06/06/it-is-clear-further-inflation-is-still-to-come-higher-food-prices-expected-beyond-2023?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright

Thomson Reuters Foundation News. 12 May 2022. https://news.trust.org/item/20220506132617-jyg3a/

Canada’s National Observer. 6May 2022. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/05/06/news/how-your-pension-plan-could-be-driving-soaring-food-costs 

EU Observer. 6 May 2022. https://euobserver.com/green-economy/154894

Food Ingredients First. 6 May 2022. https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/diversity-and-resilient-food-systems-are-crucial-to-avoid-even-worse-global-food-price-crisis.html

Thomson Reuters Foundation. 14 April 2022.  https://news.trust.org/item/20220414083247-hw9iv

Food Navigator. 25 March 2022. https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2022/03/25/This-food-price-crisis-could-be-worse-than-in-2011-what-are-the-potential-action-areas

CBC News. 3 November 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/elon-musk-world-hunger-1.6234126

Grist. 24 September, 2021.  https://grist.org/food/why-food-experts-dont-want-new-international-body-food-science/

Nature, 2021, https://www.nature.com/articles/d42859-021-00063-6

Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-york-says-goodbye-plastic-bags-180974318/

Jacobin, 2020 https://jacobin.com/2020/01/capitalism-underdeveloped-rural-america-trump-white-working-class

Western Producer. December 31, 2020. https://www.producer.com/farmliving/local-food-in-a-post-pandemic-world/   

CTV News Kitchener. July 9, 2020. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/the-future-of-food-how-local-retailers-are-responding-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5016091

Devex. 26 June 2020. https://www.devex.com/news/radical-transformation-covid-19-shows-urgency-for-food-systems-policy-shifts-97579

Western Producer. 4 June 2020.  https://www.producer.com/news/food-self-sufficiency-push-prompts-warning/ 

Global News. 20 January 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/6435463/buy-canadian-promotional-campaign/ 

CNN. 29 July 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/29/opinions/by-exporting-trash-rich-countries-put-their-waste-out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind-varkkey/index.html

Successful Farming. 27 June 2019.  https://www.agriculture.com/crops/corn/what-farmers-can-expect-from-the-latest-round-of-seed-company-mergers

CBC News, 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trade-us-china-canada-1.5126075

Successful Farming, 2019: https://www.agriculture.com/crops/corn/what-farmers-can-expect-from-the-...

Western Producer, 2018: https://www.producer.com/opinion/food-policies-must-help-small-farmers/

CBC News, 2018, https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trade-war-food-security-1.4727012

Western Producer. 17 May 2018. https://www.producer.com/news/mega-merger-aftermath-examining-the-fallout/

Globe and Mail. 6 January 2016 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/north-american-crops-among-the-most-susceptible-to-climate-change-study/article28033561/