Jennifer Clapp 🇨🇦

The Gulf Crisis and Africa’s Food Calculus: A Hidden Vulnerability. What would a new Middle East crisis mean for Africa’s food system? When Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni once asked, “Why would we starve while other people, far away from the continent, go to war?”...

⚠️ What happens when a war in the Gulf raises bread prices in Africa?

“Africa is unlikely to be a military participant… It will, however, be an economic casualty.” – Million Belay

#Foodsecurity cannot be outsourced to volatile global markets.

🔗 www.linkedin.com/pulse/gulf-c...

#FoodSovereignty

📈Oil prices are spiking after escalation around Iran.

🥣 Food prices likely next.

1/2 the world’s calories depend on synthetic fertilizer made from fossil #gas – 1/4 of that trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

This is a food access issue.

👉 #FuelToFork
ipes-food.org/report/fuel-...

Shocking evidence of the scale of land-based inequalities in the world, in a first-time report from @fao.org: "The status of land tenure and governance." Congratulations to the Land Tenure Team for their diligent collation of the evidence #ICARRD+20

openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.50...

Wow. They don't even mention that the chemical largely used for export crops like soy, and not domestically consumed food; and also that the studies that went into the decision-making about regulation were compromised with corporate involvement, as your work has shown.

🚨 New report from @IPESfood: Head In The Cloud

Who controls innovation in agriculture?

The report examines how Big Tech is reshaping farming – and highlights farmer-led alternatives already building resilience.

📖 Read: ipes-food.org/report/head-...

#HeadInTheCloud

whoo hooo! Happy 25 to GEP!!

Yes! Let's hear it for the birders!

Post-it maker 3M on trial in Belgium over 'forever' chemicals Belgians living near a 3M plant called for justice Tuesday at the opening of a trial against the US multinational maker of Post-it and Scotch tape over pollution from so-called forever chemicals.

The forever chemicals court cases continue to pile up

www.france24.com/en/live-news...

@quinnslobodian.com @thunen.bsky.social @dandrezner.bsky.social @jacquelinebest.bsky.social @katemcnamara.bsky.social

Can history help us to understand Trump’s protectionism?

Check out Eric Helleiner's new paper on whether historical comparisons can fully capture the nature Trumpian protectionism and what that means for understanding this current moment.

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/60...

In Defense of Roundup© This week a presidential executive order declared the herbicide glyphosate “crucial to the national security and defense” because it allows “farmers and ranchers to maintain high yields and low pro…

fieldquestions.com/2026/02/20/i...

nice piece!

Trump order seeks to protect weedkiller at center of barrage of lawsuits President’s move, which also seeks ‘immunity’ for makers, faces backlash from health advocates and Maha coalition

Confluence of glyphosate news: the US executive order on glyphosate, Bayer offering to settle lawsuits, and the upcoming US Supreme Court decision on whether US states can have their own more stringent rules on glyphosate. Hmmm.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

fascinating, but scary to have all the information in the hands of private firms

Manufacturers pivot from EV batteries to storage as AI boom drives demand Retooling of factories comes as cell makers have cancelled enough capacity to produce 2mn electric cars

So instead of electrifying vehicle fleets to address climate change we are are instead using battery technology to drive more AI slop? No thanks.

www.ft.com/content/8b0a...

Addressing climate change without the ‘rules-based order’ Everyone who cares about climate action must now grapple with how climate politics can function in a new world of uncertainty.

A must read for those interested in advancing any form of care or action to protect our world.

theconversation.com/addressing-c...

Was happy to participate as an interviewee both for this film, and for @criticaltakes.bsky.social !!

YouTube video by International Film Festival Rotterdam Hungry - Trailer | IFFR 2026

Giving a plug to this eerie and compelling new film about the threat posed to food supply by corporate power and industrial farming.

It uses a clever framing device, starkly beautiful images and snatches of interviews with experts to gradually build its case.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hehJ...

The film people offered me an advance showing. Having watched it, I'm happy to let people know about it.

The last half-hour makes the case for shrinking the dominance of farming and food by giant companies.

Interviewees include @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social who featured on Critical Takes recently.

Feds slashed farm research. An internal email suggests they don't know what Canada's losing Senior officials at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) did not know how their decision to close three research stations on the Prairies would impact the department's research program when they an...

"’Backwards’ was my first thought," said Cathy Holtslander, director of research and policy at the National Farmers Union. "Obviously, they made these cuts without knowing what they were doing."

I was honored to write this @gepjournal.bsky.social article with a stellar group of environmental politics scholars. As we are entering a new geopolitical order, it's important to bring geopolitics fully back into the study of global environmental politics! @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social

YouTube video by The Second City SCTV The Brooke Shields Show

So sorry to hear the very sad news about Catherine O'Hara's passing. There are so many great roles she played over the years that had me in stitches... Here is just one of them... (and a shout out to her performance in Best in Show, an all time great movie)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eV6...

Appeal court rules in favour of Ottawa's toxic plastic listing | CBC News In a victory for the Liberal government, the Federal Court of Appeal has upheld its decision to list plastics as toxic, enabling Ottawa to ban single-use plastic items.

Exxon and Dow lose, the rest of us win: Appeal court rules in favour of Ottawa's toxic plastic listing
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

White House Forced To Row Back Trump's Threats On Canadian Made Airplane Over Mass Grounding Warning The White House reversed President Trump's threats to decertify Canadian-made aircraft amidst concerns over mass groundings.

Looks like Trump had to back away already from his demented late-night rant against Canada paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/01/30/w...
Someone managed to convince the jerk that grounding hundreds of planes operated by U.S. airlines would not hurt Canada.

Global Environmental Politics amid Geopolitical Turbulence Abstract. Over the past decade, three overlapping trends have fundamentally reshaped and now characterize the global geopolitical order: the rise of emerging powers, increasing military conflicts, and...

Excited this piece with excellent colleagues is now out! We examine implications of geopolitical turbulence in the world for the GEP research agenda @yixiansun.bsky.social @matpaterson.bsky.social
direct.mit.edu/glep/article...

Meanwhile 4 firms control 80% of US beef sales (similar for chicken) and DoJ is busy looking for 11000 votes in Fulton county GA

Another lovely example of federalism for me but not for thee.
In reality, it’s all 🐓💩.

DOJ files suit against Michigan cage-free egg law Administration claims the state’s ban on the sale of eggs from hens raised in cage systems has contributed to a “historic rise in egg prices.”

DOJ blames rules against horrible conditions for chickens for higher egg prices and is suing Michigan over it. Crazy. I should think the DOJ has better things to do, including going after corporate collusion on higher prices and lower wages in the food sector.
www.feedstuffs.com/policy/doj-f...

Tomorrow! I'll be speaking in the Food Thinkers webinar series at City St. George's University - Wednesday, 28th January 2026, 16:00 – 17:15 (GMT) on Concentrated Corporate Power in Food Systems and Why it Matters

Registration info if you want to join:
www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Europe’s supermarket shelves packed with ‘misleading’ claims about recycled plastic packaging Manufacturers use method that labels plastic as ‘circular’ and climate-friendly, despite being mostly fossil-based

have a few papers in review that examine this issue, and the reality is that ‘circular’ claims often camouflage a reliance on chemical recycling technologies that are toxic and unproven

these claims should be understood as a strategy by corporate interests to distract and delay meaningful action