The Rise of Mega-companies in the Global Food System: Implications for Justice and Sustainability

Oct 08, 2019

A shrinking number of ever larger “mega-companies” command enormous influence over the global food system.
In this talk, Jennifer Clapp will outline the current status of corporate consolidation across the global agrifood system, examine its key drivers, and assess debates over the implications of this trend for the future of food systems more broadly. She will argue that a complex mix of technological, financial and policy factors have encouraged growing concentration in the sector in recent years, and discuss current policy proposals to address it.

Jennifer Clapp is a Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability, and a Peter Wall Institute International Visiting Research Scholar from the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She has published widely on the global governance of problems that arise at the intersection of the global economy, the environment, and food security. Her most recent books include Speculative Harvests: Financialization, Food, and Agriculture (with S. Ryan Isakson, Fernwood Press, 2018), Food, 2nd Edition (Polity, 2016), and Hunger in the Balance: The New Politics of International Food Aid (Cornell University Press, 2012). 

This event is co-hosted by: The School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA), the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the UBC Farm, and the Global Reporting Centre.

This event is free, but registration is required. Light refreshments will be served.