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Alex Heffron

@alexheffron.bsky.social
1.4K followers 446 following 734 posts

Father. Farmer's husband. Full time PhD researching the political economy of farming and farmland. ND. he/him. Writing: linktr.ee/AlexHeffron

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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
A belly full of natural gas and other fictions of self-sufficiency: Does a greenhouse full of peppers and tomatoes bathing in the warmth of natural gas and fed a diet of fertilisers really represent food security and self-sufficiency? thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/a-belly-fu...
thestruggleforland.substack.com
A belly full of natural gas and other fictions of self-sufficiency
Does a greenhouse full of peppers and tomatoes bathing in the warmth of natural gas and fed a diet of fertilisers really represent food security and self-sufficiency?
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
He's correct
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
If it's based on importing all the raw ingredients then how is it any more secure than importing the final food product itself? This isn't real farming.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
honestly sometimes I wish I could go back on there but I'm generally so glad I left. It was when I realised not only how annoyed I was getting with others but how much I was annoying myself that I realised it's time to pack it in.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
screenshot: A government spokesperson said: “We reject that our NPPF proposals are linked to lobbying – we have carefully considered how we can support all sectors whilst reflecting wider government priorities such as food security and safeguarding the environment.”
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
This is one of the reasons why I've been cautioning against trying to tap into the food security discourse – they'll use it to justify abominations like intensive poultry units: (see image in next post to see how gov justifies it) www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
UK looks to relax planning rules for factory farms after industry lobbying
Exclusive: documents chronicle years-long campaign to make it easier to build intensive livestock units
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Daniel Hartley @danieljhartley.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
On Tuesday April 21, I'll be hosting an in-person (non-recorded) one-day symposium on "Culture and the 21st-Century Agrarian Question" at Durham University. Details in the images, booking link below. All welcome!
Slide showing event key info:
Event: Symposium
Title: Culture and the 21st-Century Agrarian Question
Date: April 21
Time: 10.30a.m.-6p.m.
Location: Durham University (Waterside Building | Business School | Room: WB-0003-0004)
Organiser: This event is organised by the Centre for Culture and Ecology.
Speakers: Sourit Bhattacharya, Hannah Green, Daniel Hartley,  Amanda Herbert,  Clara Olóriz Sanjuán, Douglas SpencerSlide showing programme schedule:
10.30-10.45 – Welcome and Introduction (Organiser: Daniel Hartley)

10.45 – 11.45 – Amanda Herbert (Durham University): ‘The Edible Commons: Food Rights and Local Fisheries in England, Virginia, and Jamaica, c. 1630-1830’

11.45-12.45 – Sourit Bhattacharya (Edinburgh University): ‘“Aesthetics of Hunger”: Mahasweta Devi’s Irreal Tales’

12.45-13.45 – Lunch

13.45-14.45 – Daniel Hartley (Durham University): ‘The Cultural Logic of “Eating Well”: From the Early Marx to the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement’

14.45–15.45 – Hannah Green (Bristol and Aberystwyth Universities): ‘“This land is so much younger than ourselves”: 21st-century narratives of depeasantization in Jim Crace’s Harvest (2013) and Tom Branfoot’s boar (2023)’

15.45-16.00 – Break

16.00-17.00 – Douglas Spencer (Iowa State University): ‘Crises of representation in the landscapes of end-stage capitalism’

17.00-18.00 – Clara Olóriz Sanjuán (Architectural Association School of Architecture): ‘Planetary Landscapes: Architecture(s) in Climate, Care and Food Crises’
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Tom Carter-Brookes @tom-cb.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I'm recruiting for my PhD research, please share with anyone who you think maybe be interested 👌
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I also critique localism which I think is a failed and problematic ideology and one that must be left behind and instead we must forge a new outlook that is attendant to the current conjuncture
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
'currently favoured' is more what I was meaning
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I wrote about whether the UK really is 60% self-sufficient in food production (spoiler: it's not). But rather than making the currently very favourable move of saying We Must Produce More – I question whether self-sufficiency has much valence at all: thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/is-the-uk-...
thestruggleforland.substack.com
Is the UK really 60% self-sufficient in food?
On the myths of self-sufficiency, localism and nationalism, and why it matters for the project of food sovereignty at a time of global eco-apartheid
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids? Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
The US is engaged in imperialist war at a world scale and Starmer is very happy to support that (thus the UK is also engaged in imperialist war at a world scale)
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Jason Hickel @jasonhickel.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Over and over the US inflicts obscene violence against the global South, in flagrant violation of international law, to maintain the conditions for capital accumulation for its decadent billionaire class. It's disgusting and intolerable. We cannot continue to accept this.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Abajo con el imperialismo, abajo con el estados unidos, solidaridad con el pueblo de Venezuela
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
“Dreams of a ‘fair price’ for farmers is not a realisable demand due to the inherent contradiction that exists between food production & the profit motive.” Agroecology as revolutionary, anti-imperialist, class struggle - @alexheffron.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/thestrug...
open.substack.com
Agroecology as revolutionary, anti-imperialist, class struggle
What would it mean to reorient the project of agroecology in the global north around the aims of revolutionary, anti-imperialist, class struggle?
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Tom Carter-Brookes @tom-cb.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Really interesting food for thought (pun intended) from @alexheffron.bsky.social....embedding sustainability produced local food as a universal basic right is a great way to start imaging a transition away from global agribusiness
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Adam Calo @adamcalo.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
@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
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
New post: Zarah Sultana recently said we need to nationalise the entire economy. What I put forward here is a brief plan for a People's Food Service, which both supports farmers and tackles food poverty. thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/nationalis...
thestruggleforland.substack.com
'Nationalise everything' (or why we need a People's Food Service)
Zarah Sultana recently said we need to nationalise the entire economy. What I put forward here is a brief plan for a People's Food Service, which both supports farmers and tackles food poverty.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
New post: Zarah Sultana recently said we need to nationalise the entire economy. What I put forward here is a brief plan for a People's Food Service, which both supports farmers and tackles food poverty. thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/nationalis...
thestruggleforland.substack.com
'Nationalise everything' (or why we need a People's Food Service)
Zarah Sultana recently said we need to nationalise the entire economy. What I put forward here is a brief plan for a People's Food Service, which both supports farmers and tackles food poverty.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Showing this to my 6 year old
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Defend Our Juries @defendourjuries.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
BREAKING: Quesser Zuhrah is taken to hospital after crowds gathered at HMP Bronzefield following her rapid health deterioration after 46days of hunger strike. There are seven more hunger strikers currently facing critical health deterioration. Support them by visiting PrisonersForPalestine.org
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
New Substack: 'Perhaps we became so enamoured with our own gardens we retreated from the wider world, and in doing so neglected to contest the future for everyone.' thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/agroecolog...
thestruggleforland.substack.com
Agroecologisation
What would it mean to agroecologise socio-ecological relations at a time of climate breakdown, war and genocide? How does agroecology stop this destruction and refashion a new world?
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Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century @revsoc21.uk · 30/11/2025
DK Renton argues that David Lammy’s proposal to severely cut the number of jury trials is another authoritarian step by Labour. revsoc21.uk/2025/11/30/i...
revsoc21.uk
In defence of jury trials
rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
By land mass that is yes - and got worse over time as far as I can see. Now organic methods have become more adopted in recent times via regen, but that's a whole can of worms and I'm not sure regen can still be considered much beyond marginal in national terms either.
Bar (?) chart showing land area farmed organically in the UK. in 2002 about 725,000 hectares, in 2022 500K ha
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
New post where I push a little bit further on my previous writing on agroecology being a project of class suicide and why this means small privately-owned farms are not the vehicle of change for agroecology as too often supposed thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/towards-an...
thestruggleforland.substack.com
Towards an agroecological theory of change
Small, privately-owned farms and localised markets can never achieve agroecology, therefore the movement needs a new strategy.
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Development Studies Association @devcomms.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain’s culture war By @alexheffron.bsky.social and @tom-cb.bsky.social buff.ly/eine9eg
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
We really need to defeat these fascist pigs - cos they're coming for us
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Looking at the way Reform and the far right are trying to leverage rural resentments against solar farms. Given that most farmers are concerned by climate change – does this actually make Reform anti-farmer? Enjoyed writing this with @tom-cb.bsky.social theconversation.com/you-cant-eat...
theconversation.com
‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain’s culture war
Reform UK is exploiting opposition to solar panels – but most farmers are more worried about climate change.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Looking at the way Reform and the far right are trying to leverage rural resentments against solar farms. Given that most farmers are concerned by climate change – does this actually make Reform anti-farmer? Enjoyed writing this with @tom-cb.bsky.social theconversation.com/you-cant-eat...
theconversation.com
‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain’s culture war
Reform UK is exploiting opposition to solar panels – but most farmers are more worried about climate change.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Thanks as ever for reading and sharing 🙏
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
“Effective green policy must ensure that green transitions benefit those doing the work or opposition will grow.” ‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain’s culture war - @alexheffron.bsky.social theconversation.com/you-cant-eat...
theconversation.com
‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became the latest battlefront in Britain’s culture war
Reform UK is exploiting opposition to solar panels – but most farmers are more worried about climate change.
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Tom Carter-Brookes @tom-cb.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
My latest article, with the fantastic @alexheffron.bsky.social has just been published. Looking how Reform UK are trying to turn placement of Solar Panels on farmland in a rural culture war and wedge issue. theconversation.com/you-cant-eat...
theconversation.com
‘You can’t eat electricity’: how rural solar farms became Britain’s latest culture war
Reform UK is exploiting opposition to solar panels – but most farmers are more worried about climate change.
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Mothin Ali @mothinali.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
A memorable night ruined by a racist thug. I was invited to speak at the EuroAsia Curry Awards on Monday night, it should have been an exciting opportunity. But on my way there, outside Earl’s Court station, I was subjected to an Islamophobic hate crime. I have now reported it to the police
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
And Europe and Britain? Fortress Europe? Genocide in Gaza? Murder in the Med and Atlantic? Got anything to say on that?
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
The world is as it is because of imperialism - I back anti-imperialism as I made clear and I am against military alliances with other genocidal states constructing a violent racist fortress
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
He's trying to tread a path between various groups but really showing a lack of his own ideological commitment. This focus on nuclear weapons is a bit of a smokescreen - no nukes have been dropped on Gaza. So does he back a military alliance with European genocidaires?
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Very weak. What I hear from this is that Polanski backs European imperialism and isn't actually anti-imperialist at all. Sorry but this is basically the most important point for British anti-imperialists – at a time when the UK and Europe are engaged in genocide and constructing Fortress Europe.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Just one of the many genocides the British empire conducted
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Jason Hickel @jasonhickel.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
What we must all remember from the Gaza genocide is that the international system is rotten to its core and needs to be completely replaced. We cannot accept a system where Western governments and leaders can commit genocide and war crimes with total impunity.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Football fans that are actually fascist ultras who chant things like "kill all Arabs" and intimidate local Muslims and people of colour. Good chance of violent war criminals. It's not about their religion.
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 17/10/2025
If anyone's wondering how this is possible, the answer is these strike teams are moving terrifyingly fast. Grab first, ask questions later. We were about 8-15 minutes behind them today for several hours. They're jumping out of vans, chasing people across lawns, taking them from bus stops, etc
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
UK energy standing charge plan could backfire. Exorbitant standing charges hurt low users. Regulator plans a new tariff - low standing charge & higher cost of each unit. That won't do. Energy companies made £514bn operating profit since 2020. Better to end profiteering, nationalize energy.
bbc.co.uk
Energy standing charge plans could backfire, MPs told
Bosses of the UK's biggest energy suppliers were quizzed by MPs about support for their customers as prices rise.
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
British.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
details on the contact in flooding/env I mean!
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Ah brilliant must make sure I can attend that session! I'm presenting on the Sunday afternoon with some thoughts on the British agrarian question today alongside other comrades researching contemporary food and farming in the UK. I will follow up with details in a message tomorrow.
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
That sounds fascinating - can also put you in touch with someone knowledgeable and engaged re flood adaptations in the UK too if helpful. You gunna be at HM next month?
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Given that farmers, as with everyone, are really getting hit by energy price greedflation, there is an opportunity to counter this which maybe is something @zackpolanski.bsky.social would be interested in
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Very good article this. Need to reflect on it more but there are def some interesting parallels to the Reform strategy of using anti-solar panel sentiment as a wedge issue amongst farmers to push back on renewables. (as @tom-cb.bsky.social and I have just pitched as an article to The Conversation!)
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Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
If you're attending #POLLEN26 then check out our panel below
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