pronald
Posts by this author
September 25, 2011
Strawberries are a particularly pest prone crop.
To control these pests, more than 9.5 million pounds of pesticides, including over 3 million pounds of methyl bromide, a toxic ozone-depleting chemical is applied each year. Methyl bromide is also associated with an increased risk of prostate…
September 22, 2011
Today I am in NYC participating in the "Food Dialogues", a discussion with farmers and ranchers in four US locations about food and farming. The program is sponsored by the US farmers and ranchers alliance.
Right now Secretary Vilsack is speaking with host Claire Shipman. He says "diversity makes…
August 17, 2011
Generalizing about "GMOs" is almost completely useless. Each food we eat and each farm is so different that the genetic technologies and farming practices needed to optimize sustainability must be different too. That is why each crop (GE or conventional) must be looked at on a case-by-case basis,…
June 28, 2011
Peter Kareiva, the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, recently gave a seminar at the Long Now Foundation. His talk was summarized by Stewart Brand:
Kareiva began by recalling the environmental "golden decade" of 1965-75, set in motion by the scientist Rachel Carson. In quick succession…
June 25, 2011
This week, the G20 Agriculture Ministers gathered for their first-ever meeting to discuss potential measures to address price volatility and record high food prices. The key to any long-term solution is acknowledging that we need to empower the very people whose lives are most affected by food…
May 27, 2011
The journalist Marc Gunther recently posted a thoughtful article discussing public perceptions of the role of organic agriculture in a future sustainable food system.
He found that many consumers believe that there are only two ways to produce food:
"The first can be described, depending upon who…
May 18, 2011
No investigation without wonder, no observation without joy, no understanding without humility.
Today Malinee Sriariyanum was awarded the John E. Kinsella Prize for her work on isolation and characterization of the Ax21 pathogen associated molecular pattern.
The joyful awardee and her proud…
May 12, 2011
Guest Post: Dr. Robert L. Thompson is a senior fellow for The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Over the past few months, we've watched as governments have been overthrown in Tunisia and Egypt, as governments across North…
May 2, 2011
For more information on Gunilla and Finn's farm, puppies, and sheep dog training click here.
April 29, 2011
Alan Alda, award-winning actor and visiting professor at the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, talks about his experiences with communicating science to the general public. Looking to close the gap between the scientific community and the public, Mr. Alda discusses what…
April 25, 2011
Merry Mou won first place in the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship. 700 to 900 students participate with their research projects in a variety of categories, including physics, biology, and computer science. Winners are chosen to go on to state and national competitions.…
April 24, 2011
Today we took the children to Table Mountain, a volcanic mesa in northern California.
It is a special place, preserved from development by the dense, rocky texture of the soil- no good for farming. We strolled through carpets of flowers Lasthenia californica (California goldfields). Blemnosperma…
April 4, 2011
I walked into the gleaming 'Orchard in a box", a closed greenhouse where no pollen can flow outside. The apple was red, red, red inside and out and I wanted it. But because I was in New Zealand, where experimenting with genetically engineered food is highly regulated, tasting was banned.
How was…
March 17, 2011
With religious wars around the world erupting almost constantly, you might be feeling grateful that you live in a country where there is separation of church and state. But dont rest too easy, another conflict is brewing- this time in agriculture.
Twenty years ago organic farmers in our area began…
March 11, 2011
Roxana Robinson, a fiction writer, recently described her writing process in an interview with the New York Times.
Writing a story, she said, is "incredibly exhilarating. . . . It's like doing a cliff dive, the kind that only works when the wave hits just right. You stand on top, poised and…
February 7, 2011
Recipe of the week: Turnip Blue Cheese Gratin
Raoul has lots of turnips and rutabagas at the farm.
This recipe was provided by our friends Sue and Buck at a recent bring-your-best-dish-ever potluck. It was delicious. The chef used rutabagas instead of turnips, but feel free to use either or mix…
January 21, 2011
DESPITE overwhelming evidence to the contrary, roughly one in five Americans believes that vaccines cause autism -- a disturbing fact that will probably hold true even after the publication this month, in a British medical journal, of a report thoroughly debunking the 1998 paper that began the…
January 3, 2011
Happy New Year!
Here is a post from Raoul at the Student Farm at UC Davis.
From the vegetable's point of view the holidays weren't that great. Continuous rain or fog was only broken up by hard frosts. Our head rot resistant broccoli varieties proved to be not as resistant as advertised, hence…
December 28, 2010
Happy Holidays from my friends Finn and Gunilla with winter photos of their farm.
December 18, 2010
Did you not finish all your papers and grants before the holidays? Do you still have papers to review? Dont be discouraged, Twisted Bacteria has posted humorous quotes to cheer you up.
Every December, the journal Environmental Microbiology publishes a collection of quotes made by peer reviewers…
December 13, 2010
"Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, amongst the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life".
Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, 1962
"We live in a world which is penetrated through and through by science and which is both whole and real. We cannot turn it into…
December 10, 2010
The Digital CuttleFish writes another good verse.
This one is for Dr. Oz.
Tomorrow's Table
I'm healthy and wealthy; I've outgrown my past;
When I need to lose weight, I can diet or fast;
Starvation is not in the lot I've been cast--
My perspective is clearly not skewed.
I can buy the best produce…
December 7, 2010
Click here to see the Dr. Oz show on GE crops with yours truly.
I tried to provide a science-based perspective to the audience.
It was a tough go, though, because one of the other panelists (Jeffery Smith, a former Iowa political candidate for the Natural Law Party with no discernible scientific…
December 4, 2010
These video photoessays - one interviewing Colombian coffee growers, another Ghanaian farmers - document how a 2-degree rise in temperature has already hurt some of the world's most vulnerable people. The videos show how rising temperatures have damaged crops, led to increased pests and disease,…
November 29, 2010
Tune in and let me know how it turned out.
Find your local station and air time here.
November 25, 2010
Great article by Nicolas Kristof in the NY Times.
He writes about the promise of biofortification for saving the lives of the poor and malnourished.
Children have been dying for lack of vitamin A, iron and zinc for thousands of generations. These new seeds may finally help end the scourge of…
November 21, 2010
On Monday afternoon, yours truly will appear with Dr. Oz, "America's doctor," (the tag bestowed on him by no less than Oprah Winfrey) before a live audience in New York City. Although I have never seen the show, a New York Times magazine article written by the brilliant Frank Bruni, suggests that…
November 18, 2010
The last common ancestor of plants and animals may have lived 1 billion years ago. Plants and animals have occasionally exchanged genes, but for the most part, have countered selective pressures independently. Microbes (bacteria, eukaryotes, and viruses) were omnipresent threats, influencing the…
November 14, 2010
In the recent debate on sustainable agriculture, I noted that "The likelihood of pollen from GE cotton causing harm to the environment is about as likely as a poodle escaping into the wild."
Amidst the avalanche of comments, noone rebutted the peer-reviewed data indicating that biotechnology has…
November 11, 2010
One more day to vote in the , which asks the question "Is Biotechnology compatible with sustainable agriculture?"
PZ Myers answers the question this way: "this is weird: agriculture is biotechnology, and just breaking ground with a sharp stick and throwing some seeds in is an example of an '…