Simon Smart

Software developer at @uniofleicester bringing disaggregation regression to the masses. Former spudologist.

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@RobertJenrick @reformparty_uk Jenrick in April 2025: "It was completely unacceptable that ambulances were being blocked and millions of commuters were being subjected to hours of delays and misery" https://t.co/UvTmPFydcw In April 2026: "Come and block the roads for something the govt has no control over"

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@harrym_vids These loss-leading prices are ridiculous and they should pay growers more, but it's false to say that they have "bumper profits year after year". Average margins are 3 % https://t.co/YCDWcq3SC2 which is a lot less than for growing wheat 2019 - 2024 https://t.co/SrX6qRDujf

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@_ColinFay getFromNamespace("td_svm_sparse_summary", ns = "tdplyr") does show the code. But source available ≠ open source

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

A useful tool should you wish to migrate from this hellhole and find who you follow again https://t.co/SrahncSmMh

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@robhawkes Cool app! Few comments though - took me a while to notice the RHS toolbar and it's not clear what all the buttons do, would it be better if selecting one farm made it solid colour but left the others still visible? You have to click twice to switch between them. Legends?

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@mohsinramay_ Are you using leafletproxy? It doesn't look like it and doing so would stop the map greying out when it's loading. Happy to help if you can link to the source.

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@agronomistag Oh my, that is an incredibly flawed conclusion. I've also added some comments to pubpeer (awaiting moderation)

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@CynthiaLarbey @TrooperSnooks Also on YouTube where its 5 mins long https://t.co/Ha4OF5yzgw there are some other great videos on the channel

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@zeno001 @ozonecoffeeuk @hasbean Me too... there must have been a data breach :( I've reported it to @ConvertKit and @Hostinger (the registrar of the site hosting the scam shop)

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@flora__bowen This is why: https://t.co/urERw9KDlZ pre 2022 growers had to report their areas so they could be charged a levy. now... who knows?

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@SciSustAg @mattwridley Why are you sharing this nonsense? I couldn't debunk it myself but see: https://t.co/rOjugTUrld it makes a mockery of your aim to "promote a conversation rooted in scientific evidence, rather than doctrine and ideology."

[Tom Lancaster @tommlancaster]

I know many of you will be shocked, but this piece by Matt Ridley in the @Telegraph on solar farms has quite a lot wrong with it

Let’s start with the impact on farming. Getting to the target of 70GW will take ~0.4-0.7% of English farmland

Not the ‘5-10%’ Ridley claims…

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@CIMMYT This is cool work but it seems a bit silly to illustrate an article about satellite imagery with UAV imagery - as discussed in the paper the resolution of skysat is 0.5m which that clearly isn't

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@AgBioWorld For the sake of any other attentive readers, the article says 1 mu = 15 ha when it should be 1 ha = 15 mu. Thus the yield was 8.6 t/ha, not 38 kg/ha!

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@1CygnetPB Springtails? https://t.co/hRmEBYzZpF

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@potatodoctor @OldTiredGrumpy @AgBioWorld There was a fair bit of research on padrons - see the refs in https://t.co/ylZ9nriNxx In my experience growing them, drought is probably the main factor, but it's always really variable. Never had a spicy one from the supermarket.

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@SciSustAg The "one third of yield" is way off - more like 10-20 %. More significantly though, glycoalkaloids are insecticidal, antifungal and antioomycete - not really what compounds you want to be removing.

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@GeneticLiteracy @spectator You should probably stick to genetics

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@TheBiocharDemo What rates are you applying and what is the approx cost per ha?

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@JRDSills @HawfordFarm It would be fascinating to know how much was 'saved' by privatising @niabgroup @ADASGroup and the PBI vs. how much has been lost in decreased productivity.

[Simon Smart @smartspuds]

@AgBioWorld @mem_somerville When that doesn't work try https://t.co/6UFHnd5E79