Pamela Ronald

Genetic engineering and organic farming have more in common than one might think, according to Pamela Ronald. She argues that used together, they can reduce the impact of farming on the environment, make farming safer for workers, and make food more plentiful and nutritious. A professor of plant pathology at the University of California, Davis, much of Ronald’s work has focused on genetically engineering flood- and disease-resistant rice—a staple of food for 50 percent of the world’s population. She is also the co-author of Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food. In a recent article for The Boston Globe, she wrote, “It is time to abandon the caricatures of genetic engineering that are popular among some consumers and activists, and instead see it for what it is: a tool that can help the ecological farming revolution grow into a lasting movement with global impact.”