Since I walked away from a tenure track job 4 years ago to move to think tank work, A LOT of people have asked me how and why; I tried to consolidate some of that thinking into this interview I did with @mjhaugen.bsky.social for @cplusc.bsky.social 's substack

Democratizing finance by turning everyone into a venture capitalist.

These are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

Israel Waging "Fastest Starvation Campaign" in Modern History in Gaza: U.N. Special Rapporteur on Food

The Orwellian myth at the heart of industrial agriculture? That environmental destruction is actually conservation. This must-read essay traces how productivism – the obsession with yield – fuels ecocide & colonialism, while failing to 'feed the world'. 📖 spectrejournal.com/the-enduring...

The majority of DOGE's "work" is to use LLMs to search federal grants for the keywords "LGBTQ," "BIPOC," and similar, and then to cancel those grants. They are targeting minorities in the most literal, automated way. The outcomes of this are all over their own website:

🚨 There’s a lot of horrific news out of Washington right now—but you might have missed this: Senate Republicans just introduced a plan to sell off 120 million acres of our public lands. Let me break down what’s in the bill and why it’s a full-scale land grab. 🧵

With Trump's "big tragic bill," "backed by American industry," reaching its penultimate stage, I want to share a "big democratic alternative" I worked on with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, which would be powered by America's people.

Take action today to protect US farm workers. Tell your Congressmembers to say NO to weakened H-2A wage provisions that would undercut American farm workers' wages and protections. ufw.org/aewr #WeFeedYou

Only a quarter of Illinois farmland is owned by the people who farm it. That’s shaping what’s grown and how it’s grown, including the use of conservation programs/practices. Great in-depth read from @chicagotribune.com www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/01/i...

this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...

Even labor exploitation, structural racism, and environmental/climate destruction subsidize AI companies, they're still not close to being profitable.

unfollowing everyone on linkedin except this guy

Know how the secretary of education was referring to AI as "A1"? I've just discovered the generational inverse of this: my 9-year-old is reading a book about Al Capone. Turns out he's been reading it as: "A.I. Caponey." It took me ages to figure out what he was talking about.

This really mild petition asking Newsom and the UC system to stand up for academic freedom and freedom of speech has reached 2,000 signatures from UC faculty, but it should have much more. UC Faculty, there is still time to sign!!!

The US #LandSqueeze in a graph. As farm sizes climb, the number of farms continues to fall. When farmland is concentrated into fewer and fewer hands, #food becomes commoditized and uniform. Rural communities are hollowed out. Diverse foods rely on diverse farms.

I cannot wait to read this article. It explores the role of the law in enabling the financialization of farmland in recent years. This is such an important topic and I have no doubt the analysis will be absolutely brilliant, like everything else @jessicashoemaker.bsky.social writes.

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

Strom Thurmond's record is 24 hours and 18 minutes which was done against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 & in defense of segregation. Cory Booker, a Black senator from Jersey, breaking his record to speak out against a white supremacist President would be poetic justice.

IATP joins calls for the release of Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez from ICE detention. Farmworker organizations on the ground believe that ICE targeted Lelo for his leadership in standing up for farmworkers and immigrants in his community. @foodchainworkers.bsky.social foodchainworkers.org/2025/03/we-d...

Got serious on the Macro + Cheese podcast about how finance degrades democracy, creates oligarchy + state deformations, and why the solution to our crises is economic democracy. All themes in The Master’s Tools for @versobooks.bsky.social Check it out! realprogressives.org/mnc-podcast-...

My book and a ton of articles were stolen (plagiarized is maybe the better word?) by Meta.

Quoting @ianmosby.bsky.social: "I don't care if my work is pirated for non-commercial uses. I do care when it's pirated by ruthless tech oligarchs" 54 works by me have been used by Meta to train its AI

Pleased to share this new collaboration with colleagues who research questions of access and inequality in digital agriculture across diverse geographies in Nature Food. What would inclusive and just ag innovation look like? @naturefood.bsky.social @landstuff.bsky.social @janeezirigwe.bsky.social

Valuable new article on the "promise and limits of inclusive innovation" in digital agriculture, in @naturefood.bsky.social by @landstuff.bsky.social and a big group of colleagues. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

America’s great research universities were not invented in Silicon Valley garages or cooked up by venture capitalists. For centuries, they’ve been built by scholars, bolstered by benefactors, and scaled up by the state. The government is now trying to destroy them. The damage will be profound.

Make kids hungry again Make farmers poor again Make BigFood rich again www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

A real pity. Farmers are not happy, and children will lose out on a healthier diet. www.morningagclips.com/usda-cancels...

Today is publication day! I explain how agricultural inputs - which weren't even widely traded market goods 200 years ago - have become giant industries dominated by just a handful of transnational firms today. mitpress.mit.edu/978026255170... Many thanks to those who helped me along the way!

The undocumented farmworkers who power *up to 50% of the US agricultural workforce* face mounting fears of expulsion under Trump's deportation agenda. Risking not only people's lives, but crippling labor shortages, #foodsystem disruptions, & soaring #food prices. www.forbes.com/sites/daphne...

"many federal agencies that specifically serve rural America could suffer deep job losses from Trump and Musk’s proposed `deferred resignation' offer to civilian government employees." open.substack.com/pub/thecockl...

This is what happens when you go to rural.gov which used to be the site the Biden admin used to connect/discuss federal programs targeting rural communities. USDA is the only fed agency with the specific rural mandate, including housing, internet, + infrastructure

USDA has resumed debt collection and foreclosure proceedings against farmers who have struggled to pay back their loans, according to a notice obtained by POLITICO Wednesday, as it moves to suspend a $3.1B program designed to help struggling borrowers. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

🌳 Cornelius Heimstädt @cheimstaedt.bsky.social and I call for contributions to a special issue on valuing sustainability for Valuation Studies. Looking forward to your submissions 📝

Hunger is political—it's not a technological problem. Technology can’t fix who decides who eats. Technology can't uproot the deep inequalities that keep people hungry. You can’t invent your way out of inequality. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

omg this clip is great. this is Cerulean belt levels of "do artifacts have politics" great

So excited to share the cover for my new book out with University of Georgia Press in 2025. "All Geographers should be Feminist Geographers: creating care-full academic spaces" --starting to feel real!! Thanks to @mickodopolous.bsky.social and team! ♥️ #geosky #geogchat

The greatest trick the likes of Blackstone ever pulled was convincing the world they actually have the remotest interest in helping solve housing shortages

Just two months till my new book, Titans of Industrial Agriculture (MIT Press) is out! I outline how just a few giant firms came to dominate the farm machinery, fertilizer, seeds and pesticides industries, and the consequences of corporate power in those sectors. mitpress.mit.edu/978026255170...

Since I’m new here I’ll share my latest publication doi.org/10.4337/9781... pre-print eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/207016/8/CH_...

See, it's insurance all the way down go.bsky.app/FQu9Fuf

Ever wonder what platform capitalism looks like in agriculture? Well @landstuff.bsky.social, @zeniakish.bsky.social and I have a new paper laying out some ideas. #platforms #politicaleconomy #agtech #rentiership onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

My brilliant colleague Mijin Cha has a brilliant new book out this week!!! I am so excited to buy and read this puppy.

The COP draft text waves at 'improved mobilization of private finance' to fill the gaps in inadequate climate finance from rich countries. So, I must again shout into the void: 1) This won't work. 2) The real question is why people keep trying to make it work. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Silicon Valley agri-food tech sector sees itself as a disruptive force. Yet Emily Reisman and I find that incumbent influence is pervasive throughout the sector, with established food and ag firms shaping startups in innumerable, often intangible ways. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....