Josh MacFadyen, PhD

I am a Canadian, Environmental, and Digital historian, and a Postdoctoral Fellow in History at the University of Saskatchewan. From 2012-2014 I was NiCHE Project Coordinator and Course Instructor at the University of Western Ontario.

Currently, I work on the Sustainable Farm Systems project where I am building on the work of the Great Plains Population and Environment Project and applying the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) models developed by the SFS team. More broadly, I am interested in the problems of modern agriculture and how Canadians did — and could — stay warm and fed in a world with much less fossil fuel. My detailed research interests are outlined here.

My profile picture was taken on mussel beds in the North River of Prince Edward Island. Farmers once dug up the shells and mud from these beds to treat the soil for acidity.