The hottest Agriculture Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

If it destroys life, it is progress?

storyvoyager • 4 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. Progress that destroys ecosystems and species is not real progress; true progress must protect life on Earth.
  2. Economic systems have turned nature and basic needs into commodities, concentrating wealth for a few while wrecking environments and livelihoods.
  3. Technological automation and today's economy make humans increasingly replaceable and consumable, leaving younger generations disillusioned about their value.

We could return three continents of land to the wild

The Novelleist • 434 implied HN points • 30 Jul 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. We could bring back a lot of land to nature by changing how we farm. This could help wildlife thrive again and create better ecosystems.
  2. Human activity has caused massive biodiversity loss, but small changes in our diets and energy sources could fix a lot of this damage.
  3. Creating gardens for insects and supporting nature in our own spaces can make a big difference. It helps both wildlife and ourselves feel happier and healthier.

Sunday Strip: I Don’t Hate Snow...

Who is Robert Malone • 29 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. Snow that freezes over becomes hard, icy "snowcrete" that makes surfaces dangerously slippery.
  2. Farm animals, especially horses, face high injury risk on the ice, so caretakers must be extra careful managing livestock.
  3. A warm-up to about 40°F is expected after a stretch of days below 25°F, and melting should ease the treacherous conditions.

How to be a farmer like you mean it

Figs in Winter: New Stoicism and beyond • 530 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🚌 Education Agriculture
  1. Ancient wisdom from farming communities can offer valuable insights on life and work.
  2. Hesiod contrasts the benefits of cultivating land with the destructiveness of war, highlighting the value of peaceful, agricultural pursuits.
  3. Considering a return to nature-based lifestyles, even for city dwellers, can offer a sense of renewal and connection to the earth.
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Agriculture, but make it precise

Topsoil • 550 implied HN points • 06 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Agriculture
  1. Precision agriculture uses technology to adjust equipment for field variability, improving efficiency.
  2. Precision agriculture offers benefits like increased yields, time savings, and environmental sustainability.
  3. While valuable, precision agriculture is not a one-size-fits-all solution and adoption can be complex.

Should We Be Talking About Pesticides Instead of Sulfites?

Not Drinking Poison • 353 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. The natural wine community believes that discussing the elimination of synthetic chemical pesticides in agriculture is more important than debating sulfite reduction in winemaking.
  2. Consumer expectations often clash with the natural processes and limitations of natural wine production, highlighting misconceptions about the industry.
  3. Natural wine serves as a platform to expose the 'Big Lie' in the wine world, revealing how production methods can impact the environment and quality of the final product.

Top Links 748 Why US agricultural exports matter. Industrializing Carrara & the giant impact of America's mass incarceration.

Chartbook • 486 implied HN points • 24 May 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Agriculture
  1. US agricultural exports are important for farmers and the economy, helping to stabilize prices and increase income.
  2. Industrializing Carrara highlights the significant impact of industries on local economies and communities.
  3. America's mass incarceration has wide-ranging effects, affecting both individuals and society as a whole.

Sorry, Elon: Henry Ford Started a Colony First

Life Since the Baby Boom • 1152 implied HN points • 10 Nov 24
💾 History Agriculture
  1. Henry Ford tried to create a city called Fordlandia in the Amazon rainforest to produce rubber. He faced many challenges because the environment was very different from what he knew.
  2. The project suffered from poor living conditions, high worker turnover, and management problems, leading to riots and disease among workers. It was hard to get people to stay and work.
  3. Ultimately, the project failed to produce rubber as intended and Ford lost a lot of money. It shows how difficult it is to impose a new way of life in an unfamiliar place.

Forgotten Minerals #2: Caliche

Material World • 918 implied HN points • 14 Jan 25
🔬 Science Agriculture
  1. People often keep mining a resource even when substitutes are available. This happens because once we start mining something, we rarely stop.
  2. Caliche, a valuable rock in the Atacama desert, is still being mined heavily for its nitrogen, despite the invention of synthetic alternatives that could replace it.
  3. Interestingly, mining caliche can have less environmental impact than the modern methods used to create fertilizers, showing that old mining practices haven't completely disappeared.

No, growing more food does not mean we always need more and more inputs

Sustainability by numbers • 301 implied HN points • 28 Jul 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. High and middle-income countries are now producing the same or more food while using less fertilizer, pesticides, and land. This shows that it's possible to farm more efficiently.
  2. Total factor productivity (TFP) is crucial in growing food as it measures how much output can be increased without using more resources. Higher TFP means we can produce more food with less input.
  3. Low-income countries still need to increase their use of fertilizers and other inputs to improve food production, as they haven't yet reached the efficiency levels of wealthier nations.

Economic Ornithology

Bird History • 379 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24
🔬 Science Agriculture
  1. Before pesticides, birds were valued by farmers for their role in controlling bugs on crops, and economic ornithologists calculated the precise worth of each bird in dollars.
  2. The Bureau of Biological Survey was established to study the economic impact of birds on agriculture, shifting focus to quantify the benefits and drawbacks of various bird species on crops.
  3. Studies conducted by economic ornithologists resulted in a widespread belief in the economic significance of birds in pest control, but the field eventually lost credibility as pesticides and modern agricultural practices took over.

The Cold Ledger: When Greenland is Finally Green

Gad’s Newsletter • 23 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
💼 Business Agriculture
  1. Arctic shipping shortens distances but brings high extra costs and risks—ice‑class ships, slower speeds, higher insurance, and unreliable schedules—so only bulk, time‑insensitive cargo is likely to benefit in the near term.
  2. Greenland’s rare‑earth deposits can diversify and stabilize critical mineral supply for things like EV motors, but higher extraction and logistics costs mean a modest price premium rather than cheaper consumer goods.
  3. Glacial rock flour could materially lower fertilizer costs and boost crop yields, putting downward pressure on food prices long‑term, but that outcome hinges on solving expensive bulk shipping logistics or monetizing carbon credits to cover transport.

Underrated Problems in Biotechnology

Niko McCarty • 99 implied HN points • 25 May 24
🕹 Technology Agriculture
  1. Chick culling is a big issue where billions of male chicks are killed each year because they can't lay eggs. New technology can help determine an egg's sex earlier to prevent this cruelty.
  2. Synthetic apomixis could change farming for the better by allowing farmers to grow hybrid crops indefinitely without buying new seeds each year. This would help increase their profits and food supply.
  3. Tree engineering is important for combating climate change, but not enough researchers are focusing on it. Creating trees that grow faster and capture more carbon could help protect our forests.

Data: the new oil or a new byproduct?

Topsoil • 511 implied HN points • 30 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Agriculture
  1. Data in agriculture is essential for advancements like Generative AI, automation, and precision agriculture.
  2. Challenges in farm digitization include issues like connectivity, interoperability, data quality, trust, and incentives.
  3. Farmers derive value from data through decision-making, enabling technologies, sharing with advisors, compliance, and future income opportunities.

A Massive Win, and What It Means

The Crucial Years • 2002 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. A huge victory against the fossil fuel industry has been achieved by halting new licenses for LNG export terminals.
  2. Biden's decision sets a climate test for American fossil fuel expansion plans, signaling a transition from natural gas as a 'bridge fuel'.
  3. The fight for climate justice needs to include considerations for impacts on communities and involve effective monitoring and engagement with frontline leaders.

Farming is a team sport

Topsoil • 452 implied HN points • 31 Oct 23
💼 Business Agriculture
  1. Farming requires a diverse team with various roles.
  2. Roles on the farm include operations manager, operators, bookkeeper, and agronomist.
  3. There is a trend towards consolidation, professionalization, and automation in farming.

Where's The Beef?

OK Doomer • 74 implied HN points • 18 Nov 25
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. Beef prices in the U.S. are rising, with some predicting they could increase by 60% soon. This is affecting how much people have to pay for meat.
  2. A recent statement blamed high beef prices on immigrants bringing diseases from South America. However, this viewpoint is seen as oversimplifying a complex issue.
  3. The real causes of rising beef prices are linked to environmental issues and the impact on cattle production. A shift in diet away from beef may be necessary to address these problems.

Spain’s African Swine Fever Crisis

Who is Robert Malone • 10 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🔬 Science Agriculture
  1. African swine fever was detected near a high-security research lab and genetic analysis showed the strain closely matches a laboratory reference virus, prompting police raids and a sealed criminal investigation into a possible lab release.
  2. Spain’s pork industry is a global powerhouse, and the outbreak triggered immediate export bans and urgent containment actions, with a real risk of massive economic losses if domestic farms become infected.
  3. The case highlights serious gaps in biosafety and oversight for high-containment, internationally funded pathogen research, underscoring the need for greater transparency, clear accountability, and stronger governance to prevent accidental releases.

Where the crops go

Topsoil • 471 implied HN points • 31 May 23
💼 Business Agriculture
  1. Farmers need to consider demand when deciding what crops to grow.
  2. Proximity to markets can influence a farm's choice of crops to grow.
  3. Various stakeholders, including farmers, cooperatives, commodity groups, and the government, work together to grow demand for agricultural products.

Running Dry: The Devastating Cost of Groundwater Extraction

Adetokunbo Sees • 208 implied HN points • 02 Aug 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. Most of the world's water is used for farming, especially irrigation. This means we're using a lot of groundwater to help grow our food.
  2. Many parts of the world are losing groundwater faster than it can be replaced. This can lead to issues like less drinking water and even rising sea levels.
  3. To prevent further problems, we need to monitor our groundwater and find ways to use water more wisely. This includes using different sources and conservation measures.

Cash crops, marketing boards, and agricultural policy failures in Africa

An Africanist Perspective • 455 implied HN points • 18 Feb 23
🌍 World Politics Agriculture
  1. Improving agricultural productivity in Africa is crucial for economic development. Policymakers need to shift towards policies that support small-scale farmers and focus on local value addition before exports.
  2. The role of the state in African agriculture needs to be reconsidered. Historical policies like marketing boards have had both positive and negative impacts, and there is a need for open-mindedness towards government involvement in the sector.
  3. African cash crop producers face challenges in benefiting from their produce due to the structure of international commodity markets. African governments must invest in value addition and convince buyers to support local processing to boost sectoral margins.

What to Watch in Robotics

Startup Pirate by Alex Alexakis • 176 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Agriculture
  1. Robotics is advancing rapidly, from cooking shrimp to automating tasks like folding laundry and making coffee.
  2. General Robotic Intelligence (GRI) is still missing, but platforms are being developed to enable robots to perform complex tasks in dynamic environments.
  3. Companies are working to make robotics accessible to small and medium-sized businesses, enabling them to automate tasks and stay competitive.

🌾 Can we feed the future?

Faster, Please! • 456 implied HN points • 13 Jan 25
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. Farmers have made great progress in feeding a growing population, moving from three billion to eight billion people over the last 60 years. This was thanks to better technology and more farmland.
  2. Even with this success, experts worry that factors like climate change, crop diseases, and lack of investment in farming tech could hurt future food production. There's a lot at stake for the world's food supply.
  3. To continue improving food production, we need to embrace technology and find ways to share it better, especially in less developed areas. Innovations can help us meet the needs of a future population that could exceed nine billion.

Paid content: Parables for pruning an apple tree

Wood From Eden • 336 implied HN points • 28 Feb 25
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. Pruning an apple tree is important for its health and growth. It helps the tree produce better fruit and stay strong.
  2. There are techniques to prune effectively that can improve the overall structure of the tree. Learning these can make caring for a tree easier.
  3. Knowing when and how to prune is key to successful gardening. Timing your pruning can lead to the best results for your apple tree.

Weeds will decide the winners

Topsoil • 294 implied HN points • 01 Oct 23
🔬 Science Agriculture
  1. Weeds can significantly impact crop yields and profits through competition for resources.
  2. Farmers use integrated weed management to control weeds effectively without relying solely on herbicides.
  3. Herbicides are crucial for weed control but come with risks to human health, the environment, and issues like herbicide resistance.

How much food did the world produce in 2024?

Sustainability by numbers • 379 implied HN points • 14 Jan 25
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. In 2024, global food production of staple crops like rice, wheat, and soybeans is expected to hit record highs. This is good news as it means more food is available.
  2. While some crops like corn may not reach last year's records, overall yields for most staples are strong. This shows that farming practices are improving.
  3. Other crops like cocoa and coffee have mixed results; cocoa production has dropped while coffee is nearly at record levels. It highlights how different crops respond differently to growing conditions.

The War on the Countryside

Wrong Side of History • 432 implied HN points • 14 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Agriculture
  1. Farmers' concerns about Brexit highlight their vulnerability outside the EU, as they lack the strong political backing that other European farmers have.
  2. British farmers fear that urban voters, who may not understand their way of life, could threaten their livelihoods, particularly if Labour comes into power.
  3. The farmers believe they are currently safe with the Tories but worry about a future where urban interests may overlook rural needs.

The Spaza Shop Poisonings

Vittles • 128 implied HN points • 14 Jul 25
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. A serious food poisoning outbreak in South Africa has affected many children, with spaza shops being blamed, even though they might not be the main cause.
  2. The real issue seems to be about contaminated food from the agricultural sector and poor local government control, leading to the spread of dangerous pesticides.
  3. Xenophobia plays a big role in how people are reacting to the situation, unfairly targeting spaza shop owners, who are often migrants and part of the community.

An Applied Crop Genetics BBN

FreakTakes • 7 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
🔬 Science Agriculture
  1. The team’s North Star is to make plant engineering like chip design — building synthetic chromosomes and easy, plug-and-play genetic parts so people can design complex, adaptive plant traits.
  2. Progress is blocked by three main technical bottlenecks: transforming and regenerating many plant species, a lack of validated higher-level genetic circuit libraries, and immature hardware to build and iterate large DNA programs.
  3. They fund tool development by mixing contracts and grants, using a high-throughput screening platform to offer screening and co-development services, and aim to grow into an engineering research institute that would need roughly $3–7M per year for about a decade.

The Domus Mindset

Pacification • 255 implied HN points • 06 Apr 23
💾 History Agriculture
  1. Early settled agricultural societies may have taken the form of prison camps, with enslaved people and rulers extracting wealth.
  2. Hunter-gatherer societies had better food, health, and likely less compulsion and slavery than early civilizations founded on forced agriculture.
  3. The domus mindset, rooted in lordship and obedience, continues to shape societies, stories, and concepts of freedom today, even in modern urban contexts.

The Thousand Secret Ways the Food is Poison: #2 - Cry Toxins

Eat Shit and Prosper • 359 implied HN points • 16 Jul 23
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. Cry toxins are proteins made by a bacteria that help kill insects, like mosquitoes, but researchers believe they are safe for humans because our stomach acid breaks them down before they can harm us.
  2. When corn is processed using a method called nixtamalization, the alkaline solution can change the Cry toxins into their harmful form, raising some concerns about potential health effects.
  3. The food system is complex and constantly changing, so it’s important to remain cautious and informed about what we eat, rather than just trusting the system as it is.

Starving Palestine

Vittles • 282 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. Israeli actions in Palestine, especially in Masafer Yatta, have severely impacted local pastoralist communities. Many shepherds face violence and loss of land, making it hard for them to sustain their traditional way of life.
  2. Food sovereignty is crucial for Palestinians, as their access to traditional agricultural knowledge is shrinking. This loss affects their health and cultural practices, making dependency on outside, often expensive, food sources more common.
  3. The fight for food sovereignty in Palestine is part of a broader struggle against colonialism. It represents a way for Palestinians to assert their rights, heritage, and identity amidst ongoing challenges.

Vertical farming: a local solution for greens, but not feeding the world any time soon

Sustainability by numbers • 339 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture
  1. Vertical farming can grow greens indoors, but it won't solve global food issues soon. It's too energy-intensive and often expensive.
  2. Growing leafy greens like lettuce can work if electricity costs are low. However, for staple crops like wheat, vertical farming is not a practical option right now.
  3. While vertical farms might use less land, they can have a bigger carbon footprint than traditional farming, depending on the energy source used.

The Burning Truth: Climate Change’s Burning Impact on Global Crops

Adetokunbo Sees • 208 implied HN points • 22 Feb 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Agriculture
  1. Climate change is causing significant price increases for crops like cocoa, coffee, and mango, impacting food costs around the world.
  2. Many crops are suffering from rising temperatures, with some regions losing suitable land for growing key crops like coffee and cocoa.
  3. To cope with climate change, farmers need to adapt their methods, such as using crop diversification and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.