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ryan ackett, PhD(!)

@ryanackett.bsky.social
3.1K followers 240 following 232 posts

I study ag, soil, water, nitrogen, and GHG @ UTK. UCW organizer. jr fellow Climate and Community. ag engineer. ♾️ he/him ryanackett.com

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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Pretty nice new office if you ask me
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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!
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Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
I need to know everything about job #6 right now
A National wildlife federation job post advertises a position opening for “beaver conflict resolution technician”
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Robinson Meyer @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The EPA release about the endangerment finding’s repeal is out: www.epa.gov/newsreleases...
epa.gov
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.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
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
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
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
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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 27/01/2026
Those who make whistles impossible make vuvuzelas inevitable
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Chris Jones @theswinerepublic.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
www.thegazette.com/state-govern...
thegazette.com
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...
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Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
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.
heated.world
RFK Jr. forgot what makes us healthy
Healthy food is not healthy if it destroys the environment that produces it.
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Aubrey Gordon @yrfatfriend.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Now that it’s pointing down it’s perfect
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Chris Jones @theswinerepublic.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
open.substack.com/pub/riverrac...
open.substack.com
Cult 45(q and z) and the Failure of the Elites
Political elites in both parties are not reading the room on biofuels
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Virginia Gewin @virginiagewin.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
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.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
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...
ryanackett.com
How Lessons from Dermatology Improve Ag+Climate Modeling
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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
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
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
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/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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 ....
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
citing myself in a paper
obama giving himself a medal
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
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!
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
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!
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
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-...
And I think this phenomenon becomes especially pronounced at the intersections where food and ag cross with climate change and environmentalism. Most of the very strongest and most insane beliefists I’ve encountered live there. In beliefs like, “we can use agriculture to make landscapes healthier than they were before agriculture” and “companies have a financial incentive to protect the environment.”

On some level, I totally understand both of these beliefs. They seem wonderful and incredibly powerful. I mean, if agriculture can make land even healthier than it was before, then we never have to think about what’s the right amount of agriculture! And if companies will do environmentalism, than we never have to deal with our fucked up farm policy!
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
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-...
And I think this phenomenon becomes especially pronounced at the intersections where food and ag cross with climate change and environmentalism. Most of the very strongest and most insane beliefists I’ve encountered live there. In beliefs like, “we can use agriculture to make landscapes healthier than they were before agriculture” and “companies have a financial incentive to protect the environment.”

On some level, I totally understand both of these beliefs. They seem wonderful and incredibly powerful. I mean, if agriculture can make land even healthier than it was before, then we never have to think about what’s the right amount of agriculture! And if companies will do environmentalism, than we never have to deal with our fucked up farm policy!
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MS NOW @ms.now · 07/11/2025
BREAKING: The USDA tells states funds will be made available later today to pay November SNAP benefits in full.
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Dan Carter @prairiebotanist.com · 07/11/2025
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.
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Dan Carter @prairiebotanist.com · 07/11/2025
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.
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Can you even imagine a pre-tomato Italy?! Weird to think that the entire history of the Roman Empire was tomato-free. 🍅 🇮🇹 🚫
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nathalie @nathalieisonline.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
recommendation for people looking to cover up their Deathly Hallows tattoos: some interpretation of the horticultural Disease Triangle
a diagram representing 4 factors that are necessary before a plant disease occurs. Three vertices of a triangle are labeled:
• a susceptible host (the plant),
• the causal agent (pathogen),
• a favorable environment for the pathogen,

Inside the triangle is a circle labeled "time."
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
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.
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Ms Rachel @msrachelforlittles.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
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.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
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.
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Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
"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...
newrepublic.com
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.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
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/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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...
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
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/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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...
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Details not mentioned in this glowing bio: her peddling of vaccine skepticism and autism conspiracies. This is a premier science community, we really need to do better than this.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Why is @agu.org honoring an antiscience conspiracy theorist, including dangerous falsehoods about autism, as the keynote speaker for the largest climate science conference in America? I could not be more disappointed by this decision
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Accepted! Look for my first first-author publication, "Statistical identification of nitrous oxide hot moments and their significance across global agroecosystems," coming soon to the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences!
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Anders Iversen @anders-om-vann.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
'How citizen science can help to solve the freshwater crisis: How can we monitor freshwater bodies globally and identify pollution hotspots so that we can hold polluters accountable? The answer, I think, is citizen science: the public’s active involvement in research.' www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Silvia Secchi @profsecchi.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Here's my open access paper "Who is an American farmer? Who counts in American agriculture?"! I show that using $1,000 sales value as the threshold to be considered a farmer in the Census of Agriculture + increasing the # of operators per farm results in vast overestimates of "farms" & "farmers" 1/
link.springer.com
Who is an American farmer? Who counts in American agriculture? - Agriculture and Human Values
Agriculture and Human Values - The most recent changes in the US Census of Agriculture (CoA) have caused substantial increases in the number of farmers. At the same time, by including lifestyle and...
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Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
The answer to the many, many stories of shady carbon credits has been verification. Surely if these credits are audited, we can trust them, right? A new study says nope, conflict of interest abounds. @rishpardikar.bsky.social has the story for @drilledmedia.bsky.social drilled.media/news/carbon-...
drilled.media
New Research: The Inherent Conflict of Interest in Carbon Markets
The allure of “verified” carbon credits is obvious, but new research finds the verification process deeply flawed by the fact that auditors are hired and paid by project developers, creating a financi...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 13/08/2025
In agency after agency, the U.S. government is losing its capacity to measure how American society is functioning, making it much harder to gauge the nature and scale of the problems we are facing and the effectiveness of policies. (Published April)
propublica.org
Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More
By slashing teams that gather critical data, the administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose…
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Silvia Secchi @profsecchi.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
A really thoughtful piece by @lisaelaineh.bsky.social. MAHA w/o addressing climate change and its ag causes, including confined animal feeding operations & biofuels, is a pathetic fig leaf while extractive ag keeps adding fuel to the fire. Energy & ag policies need to change to address CC impacts.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
momentum limits would actually be rad. always in a hurry? better buy a miata
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Hello friends! After being away from this website for a while, it is my pleasure to announce that I have become the very first Dr. Ackett! After defending my dissertation on nitrous oxide GHG emissions from ag soils, I hope to finally return to my passion of making posts on the internet. #PhDone
Dissertation presentation titled: Soil nitrous oxide hot moments: identification, characterization, and prediction across agroecosystems.
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Critical Theory in Berlin @ktbberlin.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
The Call for Abstracts to our conference „The Land Question/Die Bodenfrage" just went online. The conference asks what it would mean to socialize land today, to democratize land ownership and reorient land use to fulfill social needs and ecological demands. criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-la...
criticaltheoryinberlin.de
The Land Question / Die Bodenfrage - KTB
Keynotes: Omar Dahbour (CUNY Graduate Center), Isabel Feichtner (Universität Würzburg)
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
The biggest misconception about US ag is that there never was any Get Big or Get Out "era." Consolidation has been happening from the jump, unceasingly through every policy era, because it's the inevitable economic outcome of the privatized farm model.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
not sure this is the best idea considering that the leading cause of autism is "parents with autism"
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
The biggest misconception about US ag is that there never was any Get Big or Get Out "era." Consolidation has been happening from the jump, unceasingly through every policy era, because it's the inevitable economic outcome of the privatized farm model.
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Rep Rick Hansen @reprickhansen.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Regulatory Capture
minnesotareformer.com
Cargill complained about a state employee’s 'unprofessional' tone. He was fired. • Minnesota Reformer
Environmentalists have long feared that Minnesota state regulators have been captured by local industry heavyweights — allowing big companies like Cargill and 3M to shape environmental policy in their...
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Jennifer Molidor @jennifermolidor.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Cattle tearing up public lands in the American West is a taxpayer subsidized environmental catastrophe driving wildlife to the brink of extinction. Getting cattle out is the step 1 of Western ecological restoration. Can you guess the next step? thebaffler.com/salvos/wrenc... @thebaffler.com
thebaffler.com
Wrenching the Ranchers | Christopher Ketcham
In the American West, grazing by cattle has come at a devastating ecological cost. One man wants to upend it—at whatever cost.
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Dream team up 😍
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ryan ackett, PhD(!) @ryanackett.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Could not care less about egg prices, the real crisis we're in right now is the cost of honeycrisp apples
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 27/03/2025
A sheriff in Mississippi, the highest paid and most powerful public figure in his county, staffed his mother’s commercial chicken farm with inmates from the local jail and used taxpayer-purchased equipment to improve it, an investigation by The New York Times and Mississippi Today found.
nytimes.com
Mississippi Sheriff Used Inmate Labor for Family Farm
In Mississippi, incarcerated trusties cleaned chicken houses, fixed cars and installed flooring for the benefit of a local sheriff and his associates, a new investigation found.
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