Bio.
I’m an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University in the School for Resource and Environmental Studies. My research lies at the intersection of finance, innovation and sustainable food systems.
Academic Experience
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University (2022-2025)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022), University of Toronto, Funded by SSHRC
PhD Social and Ecological Sustainability (2021), University of Waterloo, Funded by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and SSHRC
MA Global Governance, University of Waterloo (2012)
BA International Development Studies, McGill University (2007)
Peer-Reviewed Publications.
Stephens, P., Madziak, V., Gerhardt, A., Cantafio, J. (2025). Exploring price changes in local food systems compared to mainstream grocery retail in Canada during an era of ‘greedflation’. Food Policy 130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102773
Stephens, P., Hinton, L. (2024). Food crises in the third food regime: an exploratory frame analysis of mainstream governance responses. Agriculture and Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10638-4
Dai, D., Stephens, P., Si, Z. (2024). E-grocery as a new site of financialization? Financial drivers of the rise and fall of China’s E-grocery sector. Food Security. https://rdcu.be/dAExJ
Isakson, R., Clapp, J., Stephens, P. (2023). The Financialization of Agricultural Commodities: Implications for Food Security. In Elgar Handbook on Food Security and Governance. Edward-Elgar.
Stephens, P. and Wolf, S. (2023). Agritech Entrepreneurship, Innovation Intermediaries, and Sustainability Transitions: A critical analysis. Journal of Innovation Economics and Management.
Dordi, T., Stephens, P., Geobey, S., Weber, O. (2023) New Bottle or New Label? Distinguishing impact investing from responsible or ethical investing. Accounting and Finance.
Stephens, P., Clapp, J., Isakson, R. (2023). Financialisation and Sustainable Diets. In Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Diets. Edited by Kathleen Kevany and Paolo Prosperi.
Stephens, P. (2022). Financialization in the Food System Perspective. In Food Studies: Matter, Meaning & Movement. Edited by David Szanto, Amanda Di Battista, and Irena Knezevic.
Stephens, P. and Hinton, L. (2021). The State of Post-Secondary Food Studies Pedagogy in Canada: An exploration of philosophical and normative underpinnings. Canadian Food Studies, 8(4).
Clapp, J., Collins, A., Stephens, P. (2021). How the Legacies of the Last Global Food Crisis Sowed the Seeds for the Next One. Oxford University Press.
Stephens, P. (2021). Doctoral Thesis: Social Finance for Sustainable Food Systems. The University of Waterloo.
Stephens, P. (2021). Social Financing for a Resilient Food Future. Sustainability 13(12).
Stephens, P. (2021). Social finance for sustainable food systems: opportunities, tensions and ambiguities. Agriculture and Human Values, 38(4), 1123-1137.
Stephens, P. and Clapp, J. (2020). Financing Food System Regeneration? The potential of social finance in the agrifood sector. In Routledge Handbook of Sustainable and Regenerative Food Systems. Routledge.
Stephens, P., Knezevic, I., and Best, L. (2019). Community financing for sustainable food systems: The case of FarmWorks Investment Co-operative. Canadian Food Studies 6(3): 60-87.
Stephens, P., Nelson, C., Levkoe, C., Mount, P., Knezevic, I., Blay-Palmer, A., Martin, A-M. (2019). A Perspective on Social Economy and Food Systems: Key insights and thoughts on future research. Canadian Food Studies 6(3): 5-17.
Clapp, J. and Stephens, P. (2019). Financialising Nature. In Handbook of Global Sustainability Governance. Routledge.
Clapp, J. and Stephens, P. (2018). Researching the Global Environmental Politics of Food In Research Agenda for Global Environmental Politics. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.
Stephens, P. (2016). The Principles of Responsible Agricultural Investment. In Land Grabbing and Global Governance. Routledge.
Stephens, P. Principles of Responsible Agricultural Investment. (2013). Globalizations, 10(1): 187-192.
Stephens, P. The Global Land Grab: An analysis of extant governance institutions. (2011). International Affairs Review, 20(1): 1-21.
Stephens, P. Equity Norms in Global Environmental Governance. (2011). Canadian Journal of Globalization Borderlands, 1(2): 23-51.
Current Projects.
2025-2028: Capital Markets and Sustainable Food Transitions
Funded by: SSHRC Open Area Research Grant
Role: Principal Investigator
The Open Research Area (ORA) grant is a collaborative funding initiative among research agencies from Canada, France, Germany, and the UK aimed at supporting high-quality international research projects in the social sciences.
The SusFoodMark project is a response to the scientific consensus that our current food system is unsustainable. It relies heavily on fossil fuels, chemical pesticides, and fertilizers, which contribute up to a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, pollute ecosystems, and threaten biodiversity. This unsustainable system perpetuates rising rates of obesity alongside hunger and malnutrition. In light of these challenges, transitioning food systems towards sustainability is crucial.
Aim of the grant: SusFoodMark aims to explore how capital markets can influence sustainable food transitions. Investors play a significant role in shaping large food and agriculture businesses, but the role of capital markets in supporting or hindering sustainable transitions remains under-researched. Our project examines how financial resources can be directed to promote sustainability in food systems. We will provide insights that inform policy, contribute to academic literature, and guide non-profit, private, and public sectors towards fostering sustainable food systems.
For more details and to learn about the team visit: https://sites.google.com/view/susfoodmark/home
2024-2026: Venture Capital and Sustainable Food Futures: Opportunities, constraints and trajectories
Funded by: SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Role: Principal Investigator
This grant supports research to better understand how multiple forms of value (social, environmental and financial) are narrated and actioned with respect to venture capital investments in agrifoodtech. This investigation will combine participant observation at major agrifoodtech investment conferences; semi-structured interviews with investors at agrifoodtech VC funds, and document analysis to gain an in-depth and textured picture of the dynamics that influence investments in agrifood innovation in the United States and Canada. This study will contribute novel insights to the broader literature exploring if and how finance innovation ecosystems can facilitate sustainable transitions. It will bring into conversation interdisciplinary scholarship on agrifood innovation, financialization and sustainable food systems and produce recommendations for policymakers and investors to optimize sustainable food transitions.
Media
Industry concerned as Nova Scotia shelves food and beverage strategy. CBC TV, June 26, 2025.
N.S. Drops local food strategy, raising over production, access to healthy options. CBC Nova Scotia, June 25, 2025.
Farmers’ markets are a vital but overlooked part of fixing Canada’s struggling food system. The Conversation Canada, December 9, 2024.
Does Ottawa’s grocery rebate signal a shift to a broader guaranteed basic income? The Conversation Canada, April 9, 2023.
Loblaw earns $529M in Q4 profits as Canadians struggle with rising food prices, February 23, 2023, CBC News.
CBC Newsroom - Grocery Profits Interview, February 26, 2023, CBC News Network.
“Food Giants Reap Enormous Profits During Times of Crisis.” The Conversation Canada.
Episode 603: Corporate Concentration and Food Prices. July 2, 2022. Day 6 from CBC Radio.
630 CHED Mornings with Chelsea Bird & Daryl McIntyre: Food Giants Reap Enormous Profits During Times of Crisis. July 1, 2022.
Food giants reap enormous profits during times of crisis. The Conversation Canada, June 13, 2022.
CBC Syndicate Interviews on Food Prices and Corporate Concentration. Individual interviews were conducted and aired on July 4, 2022 on: Mainstreet (Halifax); Here and Now (Toronto); On the Go (St. John’s); All Points West (Victoria); Let’s Go (Montreal); Afternoon Drive (London, Windsor, Sudbury and Thunderbay); Mainstreet (Cape Breton); Afternoon Edition (Sakatchewan); Shift (New Brunswick); On the Coast (Vancouver); Up to Speed (Winnpieg); Radio West (Kelowna); Radio Active (Edmonton); Breakaway (Quebec City); Homestretch (Calgary); Airplay (Whitehorse).