Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food

By addebook • Jun 22nd, 2008 • Category: Biology •

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Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food

Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food
By Pamela C. Ronald, R. W. Adamchak

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Pages: 232
Publication Date: 2008-04-18
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0195301757
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780195301755
Binding: Hardcover

By the year 2050, Earth’s population will double. If we continue with current farming practices, vast amounts of wilderness will be lost, millions of birds and billions of insects will die, and the public will lose billions of dollars as a consequence of environmental degradation. Clearly,
there must be a better way to meet the need for increased food production.
Written as part memoir, part instruction, and part contemplation, Tomorrow’s Table argues that a judicious blend of two important strands of agriculture–genetic engineering and organic farming–is key to helping feed the world’s growing population in an ecologically balanced manner. Pamela
Ronald, a geneticist, and her husband, Raoul Adamchak, an organic farmer, take the reader inside their lives for roughly a year, allowing us to look over their shoulders so that we can see what geneticists and organic farmers actually do. The reader sees the problems that farmers face, trying to
provide larger yields without resorting to expensive or environmentally hazardous chemicals, a problem that will loom larger and larger as the century progresses. They learn how organic farmers and geneticists address these problems.
This book is for consumers, farmers, and policy decision makers who want to make food choices and policy that will support ecologically responsible farming practices. It is also for anyone who wants accurate information about organic farming, genetic engineering, and their potential impacts on
human health and the environment.

Summary: Great Introduction to the Debate
Rating: 4

The writing style was clear and not overly technical, and this book would be a good introduction for those without training in farming or biology but interested in the future of agriculture and the true costs and benefits of modern organic farming methods and genetically modified breeds of crops.

The first part of the Tomorrow’s Table is an introduction to the ideas behind organic farming and genetic modification. The real substance of the book is in the second half where the authors address some of the frustratingly common arguments used by those who vehemently oppose genetically engineering crops (for example: safety, pollen drift, intellectual property) and go on to talk about the benefits GM crops can and do bring to the environment, consumers, and growers.

The authors do a good job of making the point that GM crops really are compatible with the principles of the organic movement, but what personally won me over about this book was the way Pamela Ronald describes the delicate dance of a plant biologist drawn into a discussion of genetic engineering with friends or family who are firmly convinced of the danger or immortality of the technology.

Readers looking for a sample of Pamela Ronald’s writing style can look up a piece she wrote for the Boston Globe called “The New Organic”.

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