1) There is an ongoing debate around land sparing versus land sharing approaches to address the nexus of food production and biodiversity conservation. 2) This debate has led to unproductive discussions at times due to differing framings and perspectives around issues like the measurement of biodiversity and scale. 3) Moving the discussion forward requires recognizing the analytical value but also limitations of trade-off analysis, being explicit about scale issues, and openly discussing ideological positions rather than claiming objectivity. Reframing the debate around land scarcity rather than food could also help advance productive discussions.