A few days ago, I received an email from a former professor of mine in Davis, Dr. Pamela Ronald. She’s the director of the Plant Genomics Program at UC Davis, a rice geneticist, swell person, and as of last week, a blogger! And I’m on her link list!

Why start now? Well, it turns out that Pam’s new book is coming out this month, written with her husband Raoul Adamchak, called Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food. (Amazon link) I’ve been waiting for over a year for this book to come out, as I heard about it being written while I was still in Davis (and I keep checking for availability at local bookstores).

Pam Ronald is a proponent of genetic engineering in agriculture, and her husband Raoul is an organic farmer, who runs the UC Davis Student Farm. If you’ve heard people talk about either of these two aspects of agriculture - you’ve heard them talked about in opposition from each other. Genetic engineering, according to organic enthusiasts, is the pinnacle of the military-industrial food complex and an affront to Mother Earth. Organic agriculture, amongst geneticists, might very well be a romantic, anachronistic ritual performed to help people connect to their inner hunter-gatherer and disconnect from their inner bank account. Never the twain shall meet.

Except over the Ronald-Adamchak dinner table (And other places, but inspired by the former). What has been the subject of many a mealtime conversation (and perhaps a food-fight or two?) is how these two parts of agriculture are not natural enemies. Instead, a marriage of genetic engineering and organic agriculture may be much closer to sustainability than either could be on their own. Yet, how did they become seemingly mortal enemies? Well, you’ll have to read their book!

And you can also read Pam’s blog: Tomorrow’s Table. Hop on over and welcome her to the blogosphere!

Also, the week before I discovered another blog, Genetic Maize, by Anastasia. She’s a Ph.D. student at Iowa State University, and is working on improving the bioavailability of iron in maize through transgenic techniques. I’m a bit jealous! (Hey Anastasia were you at the Maize Genetics conference this year?)

Both blogs are worth reading, and have been added to my blogroll on the right. I’ve also started reading the GMO Pundit again. ‘Nuther blog to the roll. There’s enough of these that I think a new blogroll category is in order!