There’s something happening here, But what it is ain’t exactly clear.

Major soy traders including Cargill, ADM and Bunge are exiting the Amazon Soy Moratorium — a move that could raise deforestation by 30% by 2045. Observers warn it sends a “green light” to land speculators, even as forest loss threatens rainfall, yields and long-term market stability.

“farmers’ in-difference also troubles a more fundamental paradigm of ‘technology adoption,’ which inevitably assumes technologies to be at the center of analysis, rather than the farm, good working conditions …” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This is exactly right. In MG's view, if high productivity = sustainability, then the range of potential limitations to intensive agriculture is smothered. Being beholden to a Global Food Equation produces many such distorted policy formulations.

THREAD: Recently, some colleagues and I including @keevenachman.bsky.social published a critique of some recent work of @mikegrunwald.bsky.social. clf.jhsph.edu/viewpoints/n...

Is it really "fine" that US farmers use 250 million pounds of Roundup on crops, per @mikegrunwald.bsky.social? Some colleagues at @livablefuture.bsky.social and I dig in. clf.jhsph.edu/viewpoints/n...

Excited to share my first CfP for @rgsibg.bsky.social annual conference. Working with the fantastic @veronicaawhite.bsky.social and Alex Heffron, we're interested in hearing about the research around ongoing contestations of Green Transitions in UK agriculture. Deadline is 20th February

Ciska Ulug and I are thrilled to be hosting the summer school for the food commons @w-u-r.bsky.social from June 15-19. We have some amazing lecturers @adamcalo.bsky.social , and inspiring site visits to food commons around the Netherlands wass.crs.wur.nl/courses/deta...

"How do people push back on fossil fuel permitting? These concerns were shrugged off by groups like the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and the American Clean Power Association, and “abundance” advocates like Ezra Klein, the Institute for Progress, and the Breakthrough Institute ..."

Another study shows intensification increases demand for land. “Models used to justify intensification as an environmental strategy typically rest on restrictive assumptions.” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

“US-style land reform must include not only a more expansive and imaginative view of how property law can operate, but it must also tackle the root causes of land concentration …”

Some useful back and forth on food system reform priorities stemming from:

Flachs knows about this.

Interesting podcast... You state: "It is true that we eat a lot of shit in the US...but it’s not shit because it’s grown industrially." Disagree...main goal is maximising profit which means UPFs which are the least healthy for people and planet. Quality, health, politics strangely absent in pod.

There is abundant empirical evidence that refutes the production /land equation. Whereas the belief in intensification tends to rely on modelling of optimal scenarios along limited variables.

A leftist academic wrote an essay titled "Useful Idiot" about...me! So I did his podcast, and it's kind of interesting. I like how he introduces me by explaining that usually his guests are insightful, but he decided to make an exception. landscapes.libsyn.com/more-is-less...

Advancing Agricultural Equity in California. New state mandated report from the Califonria Land Equity Task Force. sgc.ca.gov/wp-content/u...

If anyone is around Boston January 8th, drop by the Tufts Future of Food Innovation Day. I'll be talking/maybe productively disagreeing with Dan Rejto and Mike Grunwald about an abundance agenda for food and ag.

Great conversation between two people who don’t agree about the solution to a shared problem - no gotchas or barbs, but we see value of deconstructing simple stories of tech and progress, and pushing us past talking points to see ag as political

@mikegrunwald.bsky.social brings fresh energy to an everlasting idea: To reduce agriculture's environmental impact, we need to make "more with less." New episode of Landscapes: "More with Less" plinkhq.com/i/1552882054

Having spent approximately 20 years in this debate (www.researchgate.net/publication/... ; www.researchgate.net/publication/...; researchgate.net/publication/... ; researchgate.net/publication/... ) I'm less excited to listen than I shld be. But knowing Adam, I'm sure it will be a productive listen!

Recent presentation about the role of land reform on sustainable food transformation.

Coming soon on the next episode of Landscapes landscapes.libsyn.com

Tomorrow Webinar: Land Reform in Scotland: Challenges and Opportunities to Drive a Just Transition and Food System Resilience (send msg for link) ukfoodsystems.ukri.org

“Land is about the relations between the material aspects some people might think of as landscapes—water, soil, air, plants, stars—and histories, spirits, events, kinships, accountabilities, and other people that aren’t human.” — Max Liboiron

Open positon for a cutting edge community-engaged agroecology project in California: recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF02013

20000km on the cargo bike. Do I get Dutch citizenship for this?

With COP 30 winding down, we're reposting some of critiques of Green Capitalism and productivism from the previous year. By @kaibosworth.bsky.social , @andrewonearth.bsky.social , @beniuliano.bsky.social , @alastairiles.bsky.social , @adamcalo.bsky.social , and Maywa Montenegro. Links 👇🏽

City regions may turn to urban agriculture to solve a variety of problems. How can we ensure this action centers justice alongside production?🧪

The defunct Ministry of Spatial Planning:

Which is to say, yes, land sharing (preferably commons based) is the ideal, and should be first choice when available, but there is also room for non-market based sparing as well. Without some sparing this planet would already be one big parking lot, at the “debate” would me moot.

Mentioned this almost a year ago, could be fun to dive into the land sparing debate: bsky.app/profile/adam... (previously bsky.app/profile/vive... )

While Bill Gates is in the news, this is a great read

@adamcalo.bsky.social and Maywa Montenegro talking about agroecology and the problems with productivist solutions to hunger on Sustainability Now!

With SNAP benefits in jeaopardy, the question of how best to feed hungry people is in the air. Out of many interventions, I'd put intesifiying commodity production very low on the priority list. Pod interview based on The Eduring Fantasy of Feeding the World piece for @journalspectre.bsky.social

It all comes back to land.

🥣 Brazil’s recipe to end hunger is shockingly simple – and it works. 👧🏽 Universal school meals 💸 Cash transfers + minimum wage 🌾 Buying from family farmers 🍲 Community kitchens 📜 The right to food in law 🌱 Support for agroecological farmers ipes-food.org/brazil-beats... #WorldFoodDay

Who wants to push the Landscapes podcast to 10k downloads? landscapes.libsyn.com

Abundance discourse

Useful repost if one believes glyphosate is the key to sustainable agriculture:

“A scandal that the EU is funnelling large sums of public money [via the #CAP] into farms accused & even convicted of labour abuses. “Social conditionality has proven toothless – failing to prevent abuse or trigger meaningful sanctions” says @deschuttero.bsky.social www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r...

From the General Coordinator of La Via Campesina International: Can the food sovereignty movement really play a role in systemic transformation? Freedom, egalitarian societies, and planetary boundaries www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

@ezrakleinbot.bsky.social @dkthomp.bsky.social

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Our summer fellow Meredith Song worked with Community Alliance with Family Farmers to analyze geospatial data of agricultural land transactions in California. She co-authored a @sfchronicle.com piece to explore what can be done to rein in corporate land ownership: www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

@ netherlands 👀

To regain democratic control of the food system, we call for the establishment of a Land Observatory.

The energy transition forces new struggles over land. Latest from the Landscapes Podcast: Listen: plinkhq.com/i/1552882054... @greenprofgreen.bsky.social "existential politics" in action?