Joshua Steckley is a Banting postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University. He completed his PhD in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. His forthcoming book, The Nightcrawlers: A Story of Worms, Cows, and Cash in the Underground Bait Industry, (UC Press) examines the political ecology of the lucrative bait worm industry and tracks how southwestern Ontario accidentally became the ‘worm capital of the world.’ Prior to his academic work, Joshua spent over 5 years in Haiti working with local environmental organizations and promoting local food systems through the production of documentaries, community radio broadcasts and Haitian television commercials. He continues to publish on Haitian rural food systems through a CIHR grant, “Towards a gender-inclusive food sovereignty assessment.”
His Banting research continues to explore the socio-ecological relations inherent in commodifying nonhuman natures, shifting his focus from worms to cows in the North American dairy industry to reveal the contradictions and opportunities in the complex relationships between biotechnology, capital, and agrarian livelihoods.
Publications
Books
Steckley, J. 2025. The Nightcrawlers: a story of worms, cows, and cash in the underground bait market. University of California Press. Berkley
Articles in Refereed Journals
Steckley, J. 2024. “Completely Free:” How a subsumption of labour and nature framework explains the surprising expressions of freedom by immigrant worm pickers in Ontario. Antipode.
Steckley, M., Steckley, J., Osna, W., Civil, M., & Sider, S. (2023) Food sovereignty for health, agriculture, nutrition, and gender equity: Radical implications for Haiti. Development Policy Review, e12711.
Steckley, J. (2023). Lumbricus terrestris is the most profitable crop for Ontario dairy farmers. Megadrilogica, 27 (2), 147-154.
Steckley, M, Steckley J, Harkness, I., Osna, W., Civil, M., Dorvil, W., Sider, S. (2022) “Gender, Food Security and Social Determinants of Health in Haiti: A Systematic Review”. Journal of Haitian Studies, 28 (2), 198-236.
Steckley, M & Steckley, J. (2022) E-Volunteering as international experiential learning: student and community perspectives. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 43(2), 237-258.
Steckley, J. (2022) “Nightcrawler commodities: a brief history on the commodification of the dew worm” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 5 (3), 1361-1382.
Steckley, J. (2020). “Cash cropping worms: How the Lumbricus terrestris bait worm market operates in Ontario, Canada.” Geoderma, 363, 114128.
Steckley, M., & Steckley, J. (2019). “Post-earthquake land appropriation in Haiti and the trajectory for rural women’s labor.” Journal of Feminist Economics, 25(4), 45-67.
Chapters in Edited Books
Steckley, M. & Steckley, J. (2023). “Food Sovereignty as Climate Resilience: How food security has failed Haiti, and why peasants want food sovereignty.” In Gadhoke, Pretty; Brenton Barrett, P; and Katz, Solomon H. Transformations of Global Food Systems for Climate Change Resilience: Addressing Food Security, Nutrition, and Health. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, 113-131.
Steckley, J., Boumba, N., and M. Steckley. (2022) “Commodifying The Counter-Movement: how foreign funding shapes progressive social movements in Haiti.” In Paul Austin Stacey (ed.). Global power and local struggles in developing countries. Brill, 36-58.
Steckley, J (2022). “Your kitchen is a laboratory: turning honey into wine.” In Szanto, David; Di Battista, Amanda; Knezevic. Food Studies: matter, meaning, & movement. Open Educational Resource, Rebus Community.
Articles in Popular Media
Steckley, J., & Bell, B. 2016. “Haiti’s fraudulent presidential frontrunner seizes land for his own banana republic. North American Congress on Latin America.”