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
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
November 16, 2025 at 7:12 PM
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/...
citing myself in a paper
November 11, 2025 at 10:20 PM
citing myself in a paper
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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!
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
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!
November 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
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!
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
November 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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-...
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-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
November 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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.
November 7, 2025 at 3:14 AM
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.
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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.
November 7, 2025 at 3:14 AM
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.
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
Can you even imagine a pre-tomato Italy?! Weird to think that the entire history of the Roman Empire was tomato-free. 🍅 🇮🇹 🚫
November 6, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Can you even imagine a pre-tomato Italy?! Weird to think that the entire history of the Roman Empire was tomato-free. 🍅 🇮🇹 🚫
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
recommendation for people looking to cover up their Deathly Hallows tattoos: some interpretation of the horticultural Disease Triangle
November 6, 2025 at 11:43 PM
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.
“'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.'”
What Zohran Mamdani’s Win Means for New York's Climate Politics
The mayor-elect’s approach reflects a view that is going mainstream: To succeed, climate policies may need to lose the label.
nysfocus.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:07 PM
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.
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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.
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.
November 4, 2025 at 2:55 AM
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.
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.
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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.
By far and away the best dietary decision you can make, for environmental, humanitarian and public health purposes, is to cut out animal products.
Remember this, whenever someone says "alternative proteins - yuck!"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Beef, pork, chicken: the world loves cheap meat. If people knew what really goes in it, that love affair would be over | Devi Sridhar
Antibiotic use in farming is now rampant. How meat is produced in China may mean the drugs you need here won’t work, says Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburg...
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
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.
By far and away the best dietary decision you can make, for environmental, humanitarian and public health purposes, is to cut out animal products.
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
"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...
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
October 10, 2025 at 12:43 PM
"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...
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...
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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
September 30, 2025 at 5:32 PM
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/...
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
September 30, 2025 at 5:32 PM
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/...
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.
September 24, 2025 at 12:34 AM
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.
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
September 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
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
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!
September 15, 2025 at 7:18 PM
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!
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
'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...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
August 21, 2025 at 8:29 PM
'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...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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/
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/
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...
link.springer.com
August 19, 2025 at 3:31 PM
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/
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/
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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-...
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...
drilled.media
August 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
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-...
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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)
(Published April)
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…
www.propublica.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:45 AM
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)
(Published April)
Reposted by ryan ackett, PhD(!)
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.
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.
The #MAHA movement wants farmers to produce healthier food, but the climate crisis and Trump’s energy policies are making that harder to do.
@lisaelaineh.bsky.social reports ⬇️
@lisaelaineh.bsky.social reports ⬇️
The MAHA Movement’s Climate Conundrum
Make America Healthy Again wants farmers to produce healthier food, but the climate change and Trump's policies are making that harder to do.
buff.ly
August 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
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.
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.