Jennifer Clapp

Jennifer Clapp is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability and Professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Clapp is currently a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. From 2019-2023, she was a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the UN Committee on World Food Security, and served as Vice-Chair of that body from 2021-2023.

Dr. Clapp has published widely on the global governance of problems that arise at the intersection of the global economy, food security and food systems, and the natural environment. Her most recent research projects have examined the political economy of financial actors in the global food system, the politics of trade and food security, and corporate concentration in the global food system. She has also written on policy and governance responses to the global food crisis, the political economy of food assistance, and global environmental policy and governance. Her recent books include Food, 3rd Edition (Polity, 2020), Speculative Harvests: Financialization, Food, and Agriculture (with S. Ryan Isakson, Fernwood Press, 2018), Hunger in the Balance: The New Politics of International Food Aid (Cornell University Press, 2012), Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment, 2nd Edition (with Peter Dauvergne, MIT Press, 2011), and Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance (co-edited with Doris Fuchs, MIT Press, 2009). Her most recent book, published with MIT Press (2025), is titled Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why It Matters.

Dr. Clapp’s work has been widely recognized. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of numerous awards, including: the 2012 Award for Excellence in Food Studies Research from the Canadian Association for Food Studies, a 2013 Trudeau Fellowship, the 2018 Innis-Gérin Medal by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) for her contributions to the social sciences, and the 2018 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association. She also received a Killam Research Fellowship (2020-2022) and in 2023 she was elected as an international fellow of the Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. In 2025, Dr. Clapp also a received the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in the category of Social Sciences and Humanities. Dr. Clapp also received the 2014 Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision at the University of Waterloo.

• Global food security

• Corporate power in food systems

• Global environmental politics

• Food systems sustainability

• Global food trade

• Food crises

My research focuses on the relationship between food systems and global economic dynamics, showing how power relationships in the global economy affect food security and sustainability. My recent publications have focused specifically on understanding the politics of international food assistance, how corporate concentration affects food security and food systems, and the role of financial actors in shaping food systems outcomes. My work has also examined ways in which to conceptualize food security, showing the importance of including agency and sustainability as dimensions of food security alongside more traditional pillars of availability, access, utilization and stability. I have also engaged in research on the international trade in hazardous wastes, the global politics of agricultural biotechnology, and the global plastics crisis.

• 1992 PhD, International Relations, London School of Economics

• 1988 MSc, Politics of the World Economy, London School of Economics

• 1986 BA, Economics, University of Michigan

• 2026 - Shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize for Titans of Industrial Agriculture (MIT Press, 2025), one of 5 books shortlisted

• 2026 - Honorable Mention, IPE Section Book Prize, International Studies Association, for Titans of Industrial Agriculture (MIT Press, 2025), one of 4 books shortlisted

• 2026 - Honorary Geographer, American Association of Geographers

• 2025 - Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize

• 2023 - Elected International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry

• 2021-2022 -Killam Research Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts

• 2021 - University Professor, University of Waterloo (honorary designation for exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence)

• 2019-2020 - Peter Wall Scholarship, University of British Columbia

• 2021 - Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

• 2019 - Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency Program, Fellow.

• 2019 -Short-listed for the British International Studies Association International Political Economy Book Prize (one of four books) for Speculative Harvests (Fernwood, 2018)

• 2018 - Innis-Gérin Medal (for contributions to the social sciences), Royal Society of Canada.

• 2018 - Distinguished Scholar Award, Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association.

• 2017 - Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

• 2016 - Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

• 2015 - Named Broadbent Fellow

• 2014 - Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

• 2014 - Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision 2013-14, University of Waterloo

• 2013 - Trudeau Fellowship recipient 2013-2016

• 2013 - Shortlisted for the Donner Prize for the best book in public policy by a Canadian, for Hunger in the Balance (Cornell University Press, 2012) (one of four books shortlisted)

• 2013 - Tier I Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability

• 2012 - Award for Excellence in Food Studies Research, Canadian Association for Food Studies

• 2010 - Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

• 2007 - Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo

• 2004 - Merit Award for Excellence in Research and Service, Trent University

• 2002 - Merit Award for Excellence in Research, Trent University

• 2000 - Merit Award for Excellence in Research and Teaching, Trent University

• 1993-1994 - MacArthur Foundation funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Global Security Programme, University of Cambridge

• 1989-1990 - Fulbright PhD Research Scholarship for research in Guinea

• 2026-present Member, Advisory Board, Master of Food Studies, American University of Rome

• 2025-present Member, Advisory Group for UN Development Programme Food and Power Initiative

• 2024-present Member, International Science Council, Global Roster of Experts

• 2022-present Member, Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.

• 2021-present Member, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).

• 2019- 2023 Vice Chair and Member, The High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

• 2012-present Lead Faculty Advisor for Earth System Governance Project

• 2012-2013 Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

• ERS 201 - Environmental Policy, Politics and Governance
  • Taught in 2023, 2024
• ERS 462 - Global Food and Agricultural Politics
  • Taught in 2025
• ERS 606 - Governing Global Food and Agriculture
  • Taught in 2024
• GEOG 462 - Global Food and Agricultural Politics
  • Taught in 2025
• PSCI 488 - Global Food and Agricultural Politics
  • Taught in 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Clapp, Jennifer. 2025. Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why it Matters (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), 456pp.

• Clapp, Jennifer. 2012/2016/2020 (3 editions). Food (Cambridge: Polity Press), 218pp. Translated into Korean in 2013. Second edition 2016 (fully revised and updated from the 2012 edition); Third Edition (fully revised and updated from the 2016 edition); (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2020), 272 pp.

• Clapp, Jennifer. 2012. Hunger in the Balance: The New Politics of International Food Aid (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 201pp. Paperback printing in 2015 with new preface. Shortlisted for Donner Prize (for best book on public policy by a Canadian) in 2013

• Clapp, Jennifer. 2001. Toxic Exports: The Transfer of Hazardous Wastes from Rich to Poor Countries (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 178pp. Paperback printing in 2009.

• Clapp, Jennifer. 1997. Adjustment and Agriculture in Africa: Farmers, the State, and the World Bank in Guinea (London: Macmillan Press), 216pp.

• Clapp, Jennifer and S. Ryan Isakson. 2018. Speculative Harvests: Financialization, Food and Agriculture (Halifax: Fernwood Press (Canada); distributed by Columbia University Press (US)), 182pp. Short-listed for the British International Studies Association International Political Economy Book Prize (one of four books). Translated into Spanish 2019.

• Clapp, Jennifer and Peter Dauvergne. 2005/2011. Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), 327pp. Special printing in Asia in 2007. Translated into Japanese and published in Japan in 2008. Second edition 2011 (fully revised and updated from the 2005 edition) (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), 354pp.