Molecular Breeding Makes Crops Hardier and More Nutritious : Tomorrow's Table

ScienceBlogs Book Club: Inside the Outbreaks

Profile

Pamela Ronald is Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, where she studies the role that genes play in a plant's response to its environment. Her laboratory has genetically engineered rice for resistance to diseases and flooding, both of which are serious problems of rice crops in Asia and Africa. Ronald is co-author with her husband, an organic farmer, of "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetic and the Future of Food".

Ronald interviews, lectures and profiles

Longer Bio for Ronald

Search

Other Information

"[Tomorrow's Table" is a fantastic piece of work. I totally recommend it whether you are pro GMO or anti-GMO." "This is an important book... I agree with the authors that we will need the best ideas from "organic" thinkers and from scientists – including genetic engineers – to feed the world and help the poorest...I certainly recommend this book"-- Bill Gates

"Here's a persuasive case that, far from contradictory, the merging of genetic engineering and organic farming offers our best shot at truly sustainable agriculture"-- Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalog

We found the book insightful and well-documented." -- Organic Gardening Magazine

"Whether you ultimately agree with it or not, Tomorrow's Table bring a fresh approach to the debate over transgenic crops."-- Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma

"The noteworthy aspect of the book is the way they then marry their separate fields to argue logically for the use of GM technologies to improve organic agriculture." -- Science magazine

"Brilliant... the best book I have ever read about the ways in which genetically engineered and organic food relate to each other and society." -- Michael Specter, Staff writer for The New Yorker

"A unique, personal perspective ... Highly recommended." -- Peter H. Raven, President, Missouri Botanical Garden
"A tale of the passions of an organic farmer and a plant genetic scientis...a source of inspiration." -- Sir Gordon Conway KCMG FRS, Professor of International Development, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College, London, and past President of the Rockefeller Foundation

"Simply one of the best scientific presentations of organic agriculture I have read in that it is soundly grounded in the literature and does not over-reach, while remaining staunchly and reasonably pro-organic." -- Phil Stewart

"This wildly eccentric book juxtaposes deep scientific analysis of genetically engineered agriculture with recipes for such homey kitchen staples as cornbread and chocolate chip cookies." -- Booklist

Tomorrow's Table in the classroom at Oregon State University:
"I really enjoyed the book. It did a great job of keeping everything in perspective. Use again!"
"Use again! A great resource and easy to understand"
"The textbook was great. It had a story line to it. It was easy to remember."

"Tomorrow´s Table, una búsqueda de la verdad sobre la agricultura orgánica y la modificación genética" -- Antama Fundacion

Article, The New Organic in The Boston Globe

Article, Making Rice Disease-Resistant in Scientific American

Ronald speaking schedule

Ronald publications

Read Reviews of Tomorrow's Table

Interviews, lectures and profiles

Read about submergence tolerant rice

Learn about pattern recogniton receptors and disease resistant rice

Learn about the Genetic Resources Recognition Fund

Learn about Biofuels

« The Gene Trade Goes Global | Main | Ring out the old, ring in the new »

Molecular Breeding Makes Crops Hardier and More Nutritious

Category: GMO • Genetically engineered crops • genetics and society • molecular breeding
Posted on: December 22, 2009 1:13 AM, by Pamela Ronald

On this blog, I will no longer be attempting to explain the difference between genetic engineering and molecular breeding. Instead I will simply refer those interested to Paul Voosen's fine article on the subject published in Scientific American and the New York Times today.