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.
She also serves as Vice President for the Feedstocks Division and
Director of Grass Genetics at the Joint Bioenergy Institute. Ronald is co-author with her husband, an organic farmer, of "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetic and the Future of Food".
For Ronald interviews, lectures and profiles click here.
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Recent Posts
- Let 'em starve
- Radically Rethinking Agriculture
- Why are men so ill-mannered?
- When fiction merges with reality
- L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Awards
- Corporate Backing for Research? Get Over it
- Obama, Beachy and Sustainable agriculture
- Eat with the fullest pleasure
- Introducing the PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellows
- Food Dystopia
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Other Information
"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
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
About
Tomorrow's Table is a web log exploring topics related to food, farming and genetics.
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. She also serves as Vice President for the Feedstocks Division and Director of Grass Genetics at the Joint Bioenergy Institute.
The Ronald Laboratory isolated and characterized the first pattern recognition receptor, proteins that are now known to play key roles in controlling innate immunity in plants and animals. Her work has been published in Science, Nature and other scientific periodicals and has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, Popular Mechanics, CNN and on National Public Radio.
Ronald was a Fulbright Fellow from 1984-1985 and was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2000. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a 2008 Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. In 2008 she and her colleagues were recipients of the USDA 2008 National Research Initiative Discovery Award for their work on submergence tolerant rice. They were finalists for the 2009 World Technology Award for the Environment and were nominated for the 2009 Biotech Humanitarian Award.
Ronald is co-author with her husband, Raoul Adamchak, an organic farmer, of "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetic and the Future of Food". "Tomorrow's Table" was selected as one of the best books of 2008 by Seed Magazine and the Library Journal. In 2009, Ronald received the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Journalism Award for her opinion piece in the Boston Globe called "The New Organic". Tomorrow's Table was selected as one of the best blogs of 2008.
