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
citing myself in a paper
November 11, 2025 at 10:20 PM
citing myself in a paper
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-...
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
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
July 25, 2025 at 2:48 PM
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
when you notice a serious error in the work of an academic rival
February 3, 2025 at 5:13 PM
when you notice a serious error in the work of an academic rival
listen I am diagnosed asd level 1 and I am officially giving you all permission to call elon a nazi. you have the pass to call that man a moron
January 21, 2025 at 7:28 PM
listen I am diagnosed asd level 1 and I am officially giving you all permission to call elon a nazi. you have the pass to call that man a moron
"You will be visited by three spirits"
The three spirits (soil scientist edition):
The three spirits (soil scientist edition):
December 24, 2024 at 5:46 PM
"You will be visited by three spirits"
The three spirits (soil scientist edition):
The three spirits (soil scientist edition):
Just had the pleasure of an excellent AGU poster presentation by Christopher Oates on what I think is a critical but underdiscussed reason why ag continues to be allowed to dominate among sources of water pollution: we're not even measuring it! @ngnelson.bsky.social
December 12, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Just had the pleasure of an excellent AGU poster presentation by Christopher Oates on what I think is a critical but underdiscussed reason why ag continues to be allowed to dominate among sources of water pollution: we're not even measuring it! @ngnelson.bsky.social
Somehow just noticed for the first time this quote up on the wall of my lab building from none other than.... Allan Savory. lol
December 6, 2024 at 7:29 PM
Somehow just noticed for the first time this quote up on the wall of my lab building from none other than.... Allan Savory. lol
This Bradley’s Fertilizer Company Super Phosphate advertisement states “More than 20,000 tons of animal bones… are used annually by Bradley Fertilizer Company.” They also advertise the “highest cash price paid for bones.”
December 4, 2024 at 7:58 PM
This Bradley’s Fertilizer Company Super Phosphate advertisement states “More than 20,000 tons of animal bones… are used annually by Bradley Fertilizer Company.” They also advertise the “highest cash price paid for bones.”
A good article but really undersells a primary reason why people would take the effort to stack all these bones: they were piled near railroads so that the bones could be loaded up and shipped back East to be ground into phosphorus fertilizer for Eastern plantations.
December 4, 2024 at 7:58 PM
A good article but really undersells a primary reason why people would take the effort to stack all these bones: they were piled near railroads so that the bones could be loaded up and shipped back East to be ground into phosphorus fertilizer for Eastern plantations.
this one is again a very important aim (my research focus 😅) but idk about the mechanism. why not just cap the fertilizer inputs to realistic yield levels and let regulatory action do most of the work, and maybe provide some subsidies for input reductions beyond that level?
November 20, 2024 at 11:56 PM
this one is again a very important aim (my research focus 😅) but idk about the mechanism. why not just cap the fertilizer inputs to realistic yield levels and let regulatory action do most of the work, and maybe provide some subsidies for input reductions beyond that level?
I'm of two minds about this. Scaling the tax with animal population seems like its trying to lower emissions per animal, which idk how possible that is. if it lowers the marginal profits of factory animal farming and thus reduces CAFO population, that would be a win though
November 20, 2024 at 11:52 PM
I'm of two minds about this. Scaling the tax with animal population seems like its trying to lower emissions per animal, which idk how possible that is. if it lowers the marginal profits of factory animal farming and thus reduces CAFO population, that would be a win though
Even better! When I said it matters which land is taken out of cultivation and restored, peat/wetlands is the absolute biggest bang for your buck. HUGH climate benefits, HUGH biodiversity and ecological benefits. Again, this may not be the last you hear about this idea... :)
November 20, 2024 at 11:51 PM
Even better! When I said it matters which land is taken out of cultivation and restored, peat/wetlands is the absolute biggest bang for your buck. HUGH climate benefits, HUGH biodiversity and ecological benefits. Again, this may not be the last you hear about this idea... :)
This is very good. In fact, you may be hearing about some similar ideas applied to a US context from a certain policy outfit ;) It does matter which lands are taken out of production and rewilded and how, but overall this is bold and has huge climate upside.
November 20, 2024 at 11:50 PM
This is very good. In fact, you may be hearing about some similar ideas applied to a US context from a certain policy outfit ;) It does matter which lands are taken out of production and rewilded and how, but overall this is bold and has huge climate upside.
This is already happening in other existing carbon markets! California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard is incentivizing methane biogas production at large dairy operations, essentially shifting fuel emissions to expanding factory animal farming
November 20, 2024 at 11:19 PM
This is already happening in other existing carbon markets! California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard is incentivizing methane biogas production at large dairy operations, essentially shifting fuel emissions to expanding factory animal farming
someone who is good at energy systems please help me, my grid is dying
November 20, 2024 at 4:54 PM
someone who is good at energy systems please help me, my grid is dying
If I could beam one idea into every ag person's head, I think it might be that applying manure can help a field, but it can't help the planet. It doesnt represent either net carbon sequestration or a reduction in synthetic nitrogen. It's just laundering those things from elsewhere through an animal.
November 20, 2024 at 4:42 PM
If I could beam one idea into every ag person's head, I think it might be that applying manure can help a field, but it can't help the planet. It doesnt represent either net carbon sequestration or a reduction in synthetic nitrogen. It's just laundering those things from elsewhere through an animal.
fun soil fact as a Floridian now in Appalachia: Florida's soil is actually Appalachian soil. As the Appalachian mountains formed and then eroded, their quartz, silt, and clay was carried through waterways and deposited on the underwater carbonate shelf formed from dead marine skeletons
November 14, 2024 at 6:34 PM
fun soil fact as a Floridian now in Appalachia: Florida's soil is actually Appalachian soil. As the Appalachian mountains formed and then eroded, their quartz, silt, and clay was carried through waterways and deposited on the underwater carbonate shelf formed from dead marine skeletons
I wonder how many people are aware the largest land retirement conservation program in the US, which we spend ~$2b/yr on, is designed to trend toward zero actual long term ecosystem conservation but rather to cycle land between conservation and row crops as countercyclical farm income support
November 12, 2024 at 6:53 PM
I wonder how many people are aware the largest land retirement conservation program in the US, which we spend ~$2b/yr on, is designed to trend toward zero actual long term ecosystem conservation but rather to cycle land between conservation and row crops as countercyclical farm income support
...and there it is. Regenerative agriculture as soft climate denial.
November 12, 2024 at 5:37 PM
...and there it is. Regenerative agriculture as soft climate denial.
I imagine you could fill in some more gaps by adding hog CAFOs
January 9, 2024 at 4:26 PM
I imagine you could fill in some more gaps by adding hog CAFOs