new comment by myself, @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social @katesievert.bsky.social @kimanastasiou.bsky.social and Joe Yates in @natfood.nature.com on ultra-processed foods and the global plastics pollution crisis

New paper in @proghumgeog.bsky.social. Some great colleagues' work is sampled @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social @landstuff.bsky.social @brettchristophers.bsky.social @azadehakbari.bsky.social @jamiepeck.bsky.social @reijer.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #geosky #ipesky

FAO data shows food price index up 2.4% compared to February. No surprise that the war is driving up the cost of living on multiple fronts. www.fao.org/newsroom/det...

stable, predictable, and politically acceptable global commodity prices were blocked when the US congress did not ratify the 1948 International Trade Organization (Havana) treaty and when the US state beat down the 1970s New International Economic Order. New Deal agri subsidies for me but not thee.

On top of shrinkflation last year, firms are keeping prices of chocolate high despite dramatically lower cocoa prices this year; This kind of profit grab could only happen in a concentrated market that lacks real competition (top five firms hold ~ 50% of the market) www.ft.com/content/f6d4...

Critical Takes on Corporate Power is two years old today! Forty-six articles and interviews with interesting thinkers from across civil society on human rights, tax justice, monopoly power, food and farming, tech and many other topics. Read them all here: criticaltakes.org/our-takes/

M&A frenzy in the first quarter of 2026 turbocharges corporate concentration and power under a highly transactional US administration. It's a repeat of the gilded age, complete with extreme wealth concentration. www.ft.com/content/4c00...

It's not so much price controls @ retail level that we need, but rather we must tackle corporate concentration and market power by preventing big mergers and acquisitions all along food supply chains in the first place. ://www.ft.com/content/d272c711-178c-4c73-a397-5b8fac200e5f?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Chatted with @mjflepage.bsky.social at New Scientist : “There’s a lot of potential for this to spin out of control ...If we have major climate events, it could definitely spiral into something much more severe.” www.newscientist.com/article/2521...

“There’s a lot of potential for this to spin out of control and lead to a just as severe, if not a worse, crisis [as in the 1970s],” says @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social “If we have major climate events, it could definitely spiral into something much more severe.”

The war on Iran is going to trigger a food shock because of higher prices/shortages of fertilisers, pesticides and fuels 🧪 If the war drags on for months - and/or climate disasters hit, too - global food prices could hit their highest levels ever in real terms www.newscientist.com/article/2521...

Yep - things on the food security front are bad and could get a lot worse on account of the war on Iran. Fertilizers, fuel, pesticides, & grain trade are all disrupted - it's past time to get off of the fossil fuel-addicted industrial agriculture train. www.ft.com/content/27e0...

Packed rooms for GEP 25th anniversary panels at ISA this week. @gepjournal.bsky.social @stacydvandeveer.bsky.social @kmoneill.bsky.social @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social @devoncantwell.bsky.social @matpaterson.bsky.social @robertfalkner.bsky.social @bethdesombre.bsky.social

Corporate power in the ag/food system, and why change is so hard, on full display. Global ag/chem company threatens to leave US, accesses top White House officials to find a solution - and also happens to be a leading producer of an important mineral used by US military.

The “marvel” of the industrial food system is really a story of input dependence.

AI is taking over food systems: Cargill is using AI to enforce maximum meat yield from its workers to enhance profits www.ft.com/content/9089...

Fertilizer companies are the winners of the Iran war : CF Industries execs have pocketed more than $30mn selling their own stock as share prices surged since the start of the war . www.ft.com/content/3ded...

Worst of times, best of times. Looming fertilizer shortages push the world into a new hunger crisis. But for the concentrated fertilizer market the war on Iran is an extraordinary profit opportunity. Stocks are shooting up.

Excellent analysis from @clairek.bsky.social about the power of the big fertilizer firms in crisis moments like this- always happy to talk with her about these kinds of issues! foodandpower.substack.com/p/fertilizer...

Interesting new piece from @iatp.bsky.social showing how confidence in USDA data is eroding under the Trump Administration, with serious consequences. www.iatp.org/farming-risk...

Right now Manitoba is the only province in Canada that understands we can have a say over what goes into the prices we see on store shelves. news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.h...

Military escalation in the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting shipping in a key global trade corridor. UNCTAD warns of risks to energy, fertilizers and vulnerable economies. Full analysis: https://ow.ly/wC3Z50YsYgf

"As U.S. state and Big Tech become one, we become digital serfs, and it sucks" By Canadian Shield Institute Managing Director @vassb.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

"The Hormuz hostilities are already planting the seeds of inflation. The price of urea, a type of fertiliser, has jumped to more than $600 a tonne, from $450 last week." www.euronews.com/business/202...

Given current events, seems like a good time to share this excellent article on geopolitical turbulence from the 25th Anniversary Special Issue of the journal Global Environmental Politics. @yixiansun.bsky.social @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social @matpaterson.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/glep/article...

"The nine big retailers account for 94.5% of all retail food. That’s nine companies, using just 131 distribution centres. In drone war, that’s a sitting duck.” - Professor Tim Lang, the doyen of UK food system studies for 40 years www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Food prices were already rising before this latest war began... with oil and fertilizer prices rising, food prices are likely to rise further and drive up world food insecurity. www.fao.org/newsroom/det...

I’m sure the administration planned for this, just like they mapped out evacuation plans for USAians in the gulf region, and an endgame/goal for the war. Right? @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social

Really looking forward to this!

⚠️ 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...

🚨 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

Yes! Let's hear it for the birders!

The forever chemicals court cases continue to pile up www.france24.com/en/live-news...

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...

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/...

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...

A must read for those interested in advancing any form of care or action to protect our world. theconversation.com/addressing-c...

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.

"’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

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...

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...

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.

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 🐓💩.