December 4, 2026 1 PM EST webinar with Pat Mooney, Jennifer Clapp, and Chris Huggins
The global industrial food system is becoming more, rather than less, vulnerable despite increasingly sophisticated technologies. Although hunger and food insecurity remain severe, food corporations and some governments increasingly present artificial intelligence (AI), synthetic biology, and other digital technologies as solutions to a “broken” food system. Will these technologies improve food security or instead deepen existing vulnerabilities?
Join the Group of 78 for a conversation moderated by Chris Huggins (UOttawa/IDGS) with Pat Mooney and Jennifer Clapp (UWaterloo & IPES-Food) as we discuss whether our current food systems truly support a just, sustainable future? This discussion examines the industrial food chain’s proposed “solutions” through the lenses of climate, equity, and global cooperation, in line with The Group of 78’s commitment to sustainable development.
Pat Mooney has worked for 60+ years within international civil society as a co-founder of ETC Group, retired chair of IATP and a member of IPES – Food, He is author or co-author of several books on the politics of seeds, agrobiodiversity, biopiracy and new technologies including geo-engineering and AI technologies. Pat is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, Canada’s Pearson Peace Prize, and has received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and the 17 Advanced Institutes (Mexico). He is retired and living with his wife, Susie Walsh, in rural Québec where they share six children and 14 grandchildren.
Jennifer Clapp is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. Her most recent book is Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why it Matters (MIT Press, 2025). Professor Clapp is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).
Chris Huggins is an Associate Professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa. His research takes place at the intersection of livelihoods, poverty reduction, and natural resource management. He has recently worked on issues of Nature Based Solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss in parts of West Africa.
Register at the link provided to join us for this important discussion
https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/can-we-survive-the-industrial-food-chains-solutions