Alex Heffron
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alexheffron.bsky.social
Alex Heffron
@alexheffron.bsky.social
1.3K followers 440 following 720 posts
Father. Farmer's husband. Full time PhD researching the political economy of farming and farmland. ND. he/him. Writing: https://linktr.ee/AlexHeffron
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alexheffron.bsky.social
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
November 24, 2025 at 2:27 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Call for papers for POLLEN26: Returning to the Agrarian Question in the North

Any questions get in touch!
P090 Propose Returning to The Agrarian Question in the North Convenors: Donatella Gasparro (Scuola Normale Superiore) Alex Heffron (Lancaster University) Format: Panel Returning to The Agrarian Question in the North. Panel P090 at conference Pollen2026: Diverse Origins, Multiple Futures: The Stories of Political Ecology. https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/pollen2026/p/17527 show panel on own page Open an email with this panel link Share this panel Format/structure Open panel. 10-15 minutes presentations plus ample time for discussion among panelists and with the audience. Description The agrarian question, in its plural articulations and reinterpretations, has been central to both critical agrarian studies and political ecology; yet, its contemporary understandings, analytics, and geographies tend to treat it as an almost Global South-exclusive problematique. As Global North scholars, activists and farmers, working on land, peasantries, agrarian economies and rural futures, we aim to contribute to the conversation that seeks to ‘reopen’ the agrarian question in the North, with a focus on European countrysides, but in radical alliance with majority world Indigenous, peasant and land struggles. The intent is twofold: on the one hand, bringing back into the conversation European ruralities and agrarian economies, their crises, their politics and their potential for socio-ecological transformation; on the other, rethinking agricultural (re)production, dependencies, (agro)ecologies, and labour in the North in radical alliance with delinking, liberation, self- We are interested in proposals that explore the agrarian question in Europe, starting from (yet not limited to) themes such as: - Northern agrarian metabolisms and their colonial patterns: migrant labour, core-periphery relations (also with internal peripheries); dependencies in the agri-food system; global value, labour and care chains; - Reclaiming rural Europe from the Right: reactionary politics versus ecosocialist potentials; - Why are people “still” farming? Desire, affect, and the “peasant principle”; - (Migrant) worker solidarity in the agri-food system; - Property and its transformations; - The “agrarian question of climate change” (as termed by Paprocki & McCarthy); green transitions and their impacts on agrarian communities; - Political agroecology, socio-ecological reproduction and food sovereignty for the North, beyond localisms.
October 15, 2025 at 1:53 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Sophia and I wrote this for the new Seeding Reparations booklet – considering anti-fascist food sovereignty by challenging white theories and histories of fascism. Click through to read the second half of the article:

seeding.org.uk/wp-content/u...
HAT DOES AN ANTIFASCIST FARMING MOVEMENT LOOK LIKE? BY SOPHIA DOYLE & ALEX HEFFRON, ROOT AND BRANCH COLLECTIVE The threat of fascism is growing in the UK and food and farming are becoming battlegrounds. What can we do? British land is seen as the natural abode of the white male farmer. 99% of land is owned (or managed) by white people1 and around 85% by men2. It is no surprise that Jeremy Clarkson is able to step in as one of the de-facto leaders of the farmers’ protests. Worryingly, he uses his newspaper columns to show sympathy for the “legitimate concerns” of the racist rioters we’ve seen across Britain in the last 12 months3. He also propagates racist conspiracies about farmers being “ethnically cleansed” and “carpet bombed” by immigrants and wind farms4. Unfortunately, these ideas are catching on. Welsh protestors in Llandudno have yellow and black signs talking about a “government genocide” of farmers and Facebook is awash with racist lies about Muslims stealing sheep. That government policy is undermining farming and that sheep rustling is a growing problem (though often by other white farmers, not Muslims) provides a hook for these racialised conspiracies but does not explain them. To understand them requires a deeper insight into the workings of race and coloniality. Groups like Land In Our Names (LION) have put the coloniality of British land on the table in recent years5. In Britain, we are taught to think about fascism in a particular way. Most schools teach it as something that mostly happened “over there” in Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, or Franco’s Spain. Perhaps we learn a tiny bit about the British Union of Fascists. We might learn that fascism was defeated and superseded by liberal democracy. A black and white story. So is the ascendancy of the far–right today merely an ugly remnant of the past returning, like the swing of a pendulum, to haunt us once again? Other perspectives on fascism provide a different picture.
October 14, 2025 at 6:30 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Fun reading for the afternoon
Screenshot: house of commons library. Biodiversity loss. Debate Pack 14 May 2024 Number CDP 2024/0101 By Elena Ares, Sarah Coe, Paul Bolton, Nikki Sutherland
October 1, 2025 at 12:07 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Corbyn and co stfu and tbh I'd bar all of them from being involved
RGENT MESSAGE TO ALL YOURPARTY.UK SUPPORTERS This morning, an unauthorised email was sent to all yourparty.uk supporters with details of a supposed membership portal hosted in a new domain name. Legal advice is being taken. That email should be ignored by all supporters. If any direct debits have been set up, they should be immediately cancelled. The agreed process was announced on 1 August: the Independent Alliance Group of MPs - Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Iqbal Mohamed, Adnan Hussain, Shockat Adam and Ayoub Khan - are stewarding and accountable for the foundation process for the new party, leading to an inaugural democratic conference in the Autumn. Earlier this week, we shared new details about the roadmap to the launch, including our plans for mass regional assemblies and our founding conference. Soon, you will be able to turn your support into membership at yourparty.uk, and shape the future of our party and our country. Jeremy Corbyn MP Ayoub Khan MP Adnan Hussain MP Iqbal Mohamed MP Shockat Adam MP
September 18, 2025 at 1:55 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Does Brazilian agribusiness find ways to clear more Amazon or Cerrado to adapt to this market?
In 2024, China bought roughly 20% of its soybeans from the U.S., down from 41% in 2016, the customs data shows. From January-July 2025, China imported 42.26 million tons from Brazil, while shipments from the U.S. totalled 16.57 million tons.5 days ago
September 15, 2025 at 12:39 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Karma's a bitch
Cartoon-ish image of Charlie Kirk. "It's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights"
September 13, 2025 at 7:47 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Mike Davis on what he meant when he called himself an "old school socialist"
First, socialism—the belief that the earth belongs to labour—is my moral being. In fact, it is my religion, the values that anchor the commitments that define my life. Second, “old school” implies putting in work year after year for the good cause. In academia one runs across people who call themselves Marxists and go to lots of conferences but hardly ever march on a picket line, go to a union meeting, throw a brick or simply help wash the dishes after a benefit. What's even worse they deign to teach us the “real Marx” but lack the old Moor's fundamental respect for individual working people and his readiness to become a poor outlaw on their behalf. Finally, plain “socialist” expresses identification with the broad movement and the dream rather than with a particular program or camp. (Abdelmoumen, 2018)
September 9, 2025 at 10:57 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Oh and then a landlord talking about bills going up. Tell you what. Why don't you stop stealing people's wages off them and go and get a proper job. That will bring the bills down.
A few metres down the corridor, Danny Skryme, 64, a landlord and Reform member, tells the Guardian: “I live near Hinkley Point [nuclear power station] and we should be building a damn sight more of that; it doesn’t seem Ed Miliband is building it at all. I don’t think we should stop burning oil and gas, this is for economic reasons. We are all seeing bills go up, and why should we be reaching no carbon in the UK if all it means is more expensive bills?”
September 8, 2025 at 9:57 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
They go on to say - which is also what climate denial sounds like today:
Crossman appears to have a more nuanced position, saying that we should, ideally, burn fewer fossil fuels: “Well, yes, we should, but the thing is, it is all kind of relative. The fact is, we can do what we like, but we’re such a small part in the puzzle. If China don’t start to do something about it, then it’s a moot point.”
September 8, 2025 at 9:55 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Functionally speaking what this pensioner says about climate change is what climate denial looks like today
“Climate change is happening,” said Herbert Crossman, a pensioner from Harrow. “I don’t think we need to bring the country to its knees to stop it, though.” Twelve thousand people are supposed to be attending Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham over three days this week (according to Reform at least), and Crossman is one of them. Their leader, Nigel Farage, has said it is “ridiculous” to refer to carbon dioxide as a pollutant and added: “I can’t tell you whether CO2 is leading to warming or not”. The party deputy, Richard Tice, has said it is “absolute garbage” to claim that human activity is the main cause of the climate crisis.
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
are ya winning son?
September 2, 2025 at 2:03 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Absolutely horrifying lines in the Telegraph this morning
Charles Hymas Home Affairs Editor Nigel Farage will today use a hangar at Oxford airport to set out his plans for the detention and mass deportation of all migrants who arrive illegally in the UK. Central to his pitch will be a direct challenge to Sir Keir Starmer over the Prime Minister’s cherished belief that abiding by international law must be at the heart of any policy set out by a government he leads. The Reform UK leader will instead reaffirm his commitment to not only quitting the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) but also repealing the Human Rights Act and disapplying at least three other international conventions.
August 26, 2025 at 6:33 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Labour party shills will say "it's us or fascism" when this is going on:
Insta post: WE WERE ALL DETAINED IN SPECIALIST COUNTERTERRORISM UNITS AROUND THE COUNTRY, INTERROGATED MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY AND EXPERIENCED SLEEP DEPRIVATION, WITH LIGHTS KEPT ON 24 HOURS A DAY WITH NO WINDOWS. WE INITIALLY HAD NO CONTACT WITH LOVED ONES. - Aleks Herbich, 'An Anti-Genocide Protester in a British Jail'
August 19, 2025 at 8:01 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Imagine being in this sad bunch of losers? Pathetic. This is what your average bunch of white supremacist fash look like in the UK.

(picture from the Falkirk white terrorist mob outside the accommodation of asylum seekers from the weekend)
lots of mostly white people, lots of union jacks, "woman and children first" and "enough is enough" signs. Very sad looking bunch.
August 18, 2025 at 8:38 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
I assume he's talking about how the BBC is complicit in providing cover for genocide?
Michael Deacon Telegraph columnist The BBC is no longer a broadcaster. It's an activist group. Continue reading:
July 24, 2025 at 6:55 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Brilliant example of just how quickly centrism will soon be consigned to the past with the death of Starmer's Labour. Whilst everyone else is busy polarising and mobilising they're still trying to maintain some sort of faux-respectability on how one should conduct anti-genocide protest.
Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social • 13h You're wrong. You are allowing the fact that you agree with the cause excuse the conduct. They broke into a military installation, spray painted *the engines* which cannot just be wiped or repainted, and damaged the planes with crowbars. The damage will cost several million quid to put right and 1/
July 23, 2025 at 9:30 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
How long until Starmer just shares these locations on the Patriotic Alternative group chat so that racist mobs can turn up and do the work for him?
Starmer: We're cracking down on migrants working illegally as food delivery riders. We'll share asylum accommodation locations with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats so they can take action if riders are straying there. We will do what it takes to ensure fairness for British people.
July 23, 2025 at 9:15 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
for reference:
tweet: Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer British people have every right to ask why their money is spent on asylum hotels instead of public services. That's why I agreed a groundbreaking pilot with France. For the first time, people who try to make the crossing illegally will find themselves back where they started.
July 17, 2025 at 7:41 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
The best piece I've read regarding the machinations around the setting up of a new left party. I think @garethleaman.bsky.social hits on all the important points.

disposableeverything.com/2025/07/09/t...
The party needs to be the people. In a truly democratic political party, in which the leadership and membership are as one, the intent of bad-faith external saboteurs becomes irrelevant. The media will be at odds with your demands at every turn no matter what – you don’t combat that by out-debating them, you combat it by becoming the reality they can’t dispel. The problem is, this takes a very long time to build: there are no shortcuts, and you can’t fake it. I’m just going to rip from an earlier article that touched on this, rather than rehash it: ‘The challenge, however, is that the left and right are working at different temporalities. The ingredients for a leftist fightback – community resilience, workplace organisation, etc – take a long time to develop.⁠ This can’t be astroturfed, imposed top-down from without – such a project can only occur organically from below if it’s to have lasting success. The right, on the other hand, already has everything it needs for success: money, power, influence, a political culture well-suited for the contagion of their ideas, etc.’
July 16, 2025 at 9:12 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
A new era of the powerpoint slide is among us
powerpoint slide called what is a farm with sheep emoji's for bullet points
July 14, 2025 at 8:07 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
In case you're wondering the police are on the side of defending Britain's right to genocide
House Raided: Police in South Wales have raided this woman's house after she held a cardboard sign stating that she opposes genocide outside the BBC Cymru HQ yesterday. She was arrested alongside 12 others at this location, and 70 others across the UK. They smashed the door at her home and took some of her possessions, inc. her mobile phone.
July 14, 2025 at 7:51 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
"Eat the rich, eat the rich
before they turn and eat your children
England's ending, death's still pending, burn those fucking buildings"
Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (album cover)
July 7, 2025 at 10:15 AM
alexheffron.bsky.social
Painted in Gaza in 2022
THanks Palestine Action. Image of arm swtiching off a machine with a coneyor belt of coffins. Union Jack and Israeli flag. Elbit. For the arms industry.
July 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
alexheffron.bsky.social
The Telegraph writes this today. They want to lock up the anti-fascists and the anti-imperialists who want to resist Zionist genocide, ethnic cleansing and settler colonialism. We're in a new fascist conjuncture.
image of Bob Vylan at Glastonbury. "Bobby Vylan's chant was far worse than Lucy Connolly's tweet. So why is he not in prison?" writes Stephen Pollard.
June 30, 2025 at 11:42 AM