Quick update: this month I started as an @aaas.org Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the USDA! I'm incredibly excited to lend my expertise toward advancing research and data systems across USDA for a better, smarter food system!
ryan ackett, PhD(!)
@ryanackett.bsky.social
I study ag, soil, water, nitrogen, and GHG @ UTK. UCW organizer. jr fellow Climate and Community. ag engineer. ♾️ he/him ryanackett.com
The EPA release about the endangerment finding’s repeal is out: www.epa.gov/newsreleases...
President Trump and Administrator Zeldin Deliver Single Largest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History | US EPA
Alongside the President, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.
epa.gov
as long as the food system space continues to place all their hopes into new, ever-so-slightly differentiated labels for "good" farming systems, it will continue to create safe haven for greenwashing and cynical manipulation
and even were it not, the primacy of the aesthetics of production is absurd given the stakes of its *outcomes*. Many small farms abuse workers. Many non-GMO farms pollute waterways. Many large farms degrade soil. Narrow focus on production stylings over outcomes masks these tangible injustices
Bearistotle@gnrosenberg.bsky.social · 7mo agoOne thing we say in this piece, but that isn't its primary focus, is that "industrial" vs "real" framing is silly because virtually all food is produced with some reliance on industrial supply chains. It's all industrial food! Yes, even local, organic, non-GMO, whole, regenerative, agro-ecological.
Those who make whistles impossible make vuvuzelas inevitable
www.thegazette.com/state-govern...
Chris Jones launches Iowa ag secretary campaign with call to 'retreat from ethanol'
Clean water advocate and author Chris Jones formally launched his campaign for Iowa secretary of agriculture Thursday with a sharp critique of the state's farm economy — calling for a "retreat from et...
thegazette.com
Food is not the only thing that determines your health. You also need healthy soil, clean water, and a livable climate. If the entire nation increases its consumption of meat and dairy, we will not have any of those latter three things.
RFK Jr. forgot what makes us healthy
Healthy food is not healthy if it destroys the environment that produces it.
heated.world
Now that it’s pointing down it’s perfect
Molly Templeton@mollytempleton.com · 8mo agowhat in the actual fuck is going on
ICYMI…the most gobsmacking fact from this reporting—>how much land will be needed to produce sustainable aviation fuel “The maximum amount of land that we’ve converted to cropland in a single year (roughly 1.8 million acres), would have to be quadrupled every year for the next 30 years,” said Limb.
Virginia Gewin@virginiagewin.bsky.social · 8mo agoThis summer, I was reporting on the recent honeybee collapse and a source in North Dakota shared their concerns that if sustainable aviation fuel takes off, it could make it even harder to raise honeybees. Gift link to my @bloomberglp.bsky.social story www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Big updates! First, I have a new paper out in the Journal of Environmental Quality demonstrating a technique to improve predictions of soil N2O by individually modeling different "modes" of N2O production. Also, I blogged about the inspiration on my new website! www.ryanackett.com/entries/clas...
How Lessons from Dermatology Improve Ag+Climate Modeling
ryanackett.com
Agricultural soil carbon sequestration gets a lot of attention but let’s not forget that the best way to keep carbon in soils is to stop further expansion of agriculture into natural ecosystems. #WorldSoilDay
Mycorrhizal biofertilizers are a $1 billion industry as alternatives to synthetic nitrogen. However, commercial biofertilizers are often poor quality, with new research finding 85% did not form symbiotic nodules with plant roots, & had no effect onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Poor Quality of Commercial Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculants Used for Agriculture and Home Gardening
There is an urgent need to develop microbial inoculants that can consistently improve crop performance as part of efforts to implement sustainable agricultural practices and reduce the environmental ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
big paper submission yesterday that I'm incredibly excited about! modeling N2O emissions from ag is notoriously difficult, but with some clever compromises ( high temporal resolution vs high quantitative resolution) we can achieve remarkably accurate results that can drive mitigation efforts!
big paper submission yesterday that I'm incredibly excited about! modeling N2O emissions from ag is notoriously difficult, but with some clever compromises ( high temporal resolution vs high quantitative resolution) we can achieve remarkably accurate results that can drive mitigation efforts!
Fabulous newsletter out by Sarah this morning on the contradictions between beautiful *dreams* of agriculture and the real making of a better food system. These ideas could not be more important, and yet could not be more marginal. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Fabulous newsletter out by Sarah this morning on the contradictions between beautiful *dreams* of agriculture and the real making of a better food system. These ideas could not be more important, and yet could not be more marginal. substack.com/home/post/p-...
BREAKING: The USDA tells states funds will be made available later today to pay November SNAP benefits in full.
It's a classic win win where cows get grass and meadowlarks get something that's not corn or subdivisions, but biodiversity, land, climate (not just methane, but also nitrous oxide) still suffers.
Most of our most ecologically significant "protected" grasslands are in the production game, and they are DYING, at least compared to the few that aren't. But yeah, conventional corn is worse.
Can you even imagine a pre-tomato Italy?! Weird to think that the entire history of the Roman Empire was tomato-free. 🍅 🇮🇹 🚫
recommendation for people looking to cover up their Deathly Hallows tattoos: some interpretation of the horticultural Disease Triangle
What made the Green New Deal such an galvanizing frame is that it linked climate policies with people's real material conditions. It suggested you could build a happier, more prosperous life for yourself via greening the economy. What Mamdani has done is just another iteration of that strategy.
Third Act Upstate New York@thirdactupstateny.bsky.social · 10mo ago“'Climate and quality of life are not two separate concerns,' Mamdani told The Nation magazine in April. 'They are, in fact, one and the same.'”
No matter how hard people try to convince us having empathy is wrong, it is right. No matter how hard people try to convince us that diversity is a weakness, it is a strength. No matter how hard people try to convince us that love is limited, it is unlimited.
For years, there's been a massive over-emphasis on food miles, and a massive under-emphasis on food type. By far and away the best dietary decision you can make, for environmental, humanitarian and public health purposes, is to cut out animal products.
George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 11mo agoRemember this, whenever someone says "alternative proteins - yuck!" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"How much soy we produce shouldn’t be a barometer for how well our agriculture sector is doing, but for how unsustainable it is." I wrote for @newrepublic.com that the trade war with China shows we grow too many crops to feed not people but factory-farmed animals. newrepublic.com/article/2014...
Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry
The industry became the world’s second largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.
newrepublic.com
New pub alert! The biggest source of GHG from crops is not CO2 (like industry) or methane (like animal ag), but nitrous oxide. Emissions aren't constant though- they're usually low but occasionally explode into "hot moments"- the focus of my PhD work agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Statistical Identification of Nitrous Oxide Hot Moments and Their Significance Across Global Agroecosystems
The frequency and magnitude of N2O hot moments within agricultural data sets are highly variable Median absolute deviation and minimum covariance determinant can accurately identify hot moments a...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New pub alert! The biggest source of GHG from crops is not CO2 (like industry) or methane (like animal ag), but nitrous oxide. Emissions aren't constant though- they're usually low but occasionally explode into "hot moments"- the focus of my PhD work agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Statistical Identification of Nitrous Oxide Hot Moments and Their Significance Across Global Agroecosystems
The frequency and magnitude of N2O hot moments within agricultural data sets are highly variable Median absolute deviation and minimum covariance determinant can accurately identify hot moments a...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com