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Tomorrow's Table

On this web log I explore topics related to genetics, food and farming.

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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".

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"[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

book cover.jpg


bostonglobe.jpgArticle, The New Organic in The Boston Globe

rice.jpgArticle, Making Rice Disease-Resistant in Scientific American


podium.jpgRonald 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

January 29, 2010

Corporate Backing for Research? Get Over it

Conflict-of-interest accusations have become the simplest strategy for avoiding a substantive debate. The growing obsession with following the money too often leads to nothing but cheap ad hominem attacks.

Read on »

January 28, 2010

Obama, Beachy and Sustainable agriculture

Category: agricultual policy

We need to build enhanced capacity in the US to address urgent agricultural challenges such as sustainable food production and nutrition, readiness for climate aberrations that will impact productivity and developing renewable options like biofuels and industrial and pharmaceutical materials.

Read on »

January 21, 2010

Eat with the fullest pleasure

Category: poetry

"Eating with the fullest pleasure- pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance- is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world".

Read on »

January 19, 2010

Introducing the PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellows

Category: scientific leadership

85% of scientists identify the public's lack of scientific knowledge as a major problem for science itself. - Pew Center for The People and The Press (7.9.09)

Read on »

January 18, 2010

Food Dystopia

Category: genetics and society

"To be centrist when it comes to food is, unfortunately, to be a radical."

Read on »

January 14, 2010

Will Organic farmers embrace GM crops to help feed the world?

Category: Genetically engineered crops

It is not that feeding the world, health of the consumers or care of the land are unimportant issues, it is just that the organic "brand" is now making a lot of money for all in the industry (Farmers, food processors, large corporate retailers such as Whole Foods, etc) and so there is zero incentive to change certification rules.

Read on »

January 13, 2010

Give to Haiti

Category: Haiti

Give to Haiti

Read on »

Dupont and Monsanto battle

Category: antitrust

DuPont submitted an 18-page report to the U.S. departments of justice and agriculture last Friday, alleging that Monsanto is unfairly using monopoly powers to drive up prices and defeat the competition

Read on »

January 11, 2010

How to breed Tomatoes and Potatoes

Category: plant breeding

My fabulous former student Karl Haro von Mogel has just posted another one of his plant breeding videos, this time on tomato and potato breeding. Check it out!...

Read on »

January 7, 2010

The Arena for Accountable Predictions

Category: prediction

"By 2020, GE crops will be grown on 10 fold more acreage than they are today, will be widely accepted by consumers and will have clearly benefited the goals of sustainable agriculture"

Read on »

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