Genetic engineering, combined with organic farming, may well be the best way
to resolve the need for increased global food production, while minimizing
environmental impact, suggest husband-and-wife agricultural experts at the
University of California, Davis.

In their new book, "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the
Future of Food," Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak assert that genetically
engineered, organically grown crops offer a one-two punch for boosting food
production in an environmentally conscious way. The husband and wife point
out that the process of genetic engineering can contribute to the
development of improved seeds that organic farmers can use.

By the year 2050, the number of people on Earth is expected to increase from
the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion, according to a 2007 report by the
United Nation's Population Division.

"Any effective approach to feeding the world in an ecologically sustainable
manner will require a combination of best practices and technologies," said
Adamchak, an organic farmer and manager of UC Davis' organic student farm.
"Biotechnology offers the opportunity to find out how plants work at the
molecular level.

"While it is important that we carefully evaluate each new genetically
engineered crop on a case-by-case basis to assess nutritional, ecological or
social consequences," he added, "it is equally important that we not ignore
the potential that this technology offers for reducing fertilizers and
pesticides in the environment."

Adamchak holds a master's degree in international agricultural development
and has farmed organically for 20 years. He currently directs the Market
Garden at the UC Davis Student Farm.

Ronald, a professor of plant pathology and an expert on rice genetics,
maintains that today's debate about agricultural biotechnology, or genetic
engineering, and organic farming need not be so polarized.

"Unnecessarily pitting GE and organic farming against each other only
prevents the transformative changes needed on our farms," Ronald said.
"Without the use of genetically engineered seed, the impact of ecologically
oriented farming practices will likely remain small. Despite tremendous
growth in the last 15 years, organic farming is still less than 3 percent of
all U.S. agriculture.

"Genetic engineering enables us to introduce critically important traits
into crop plants -- traits such as resistance to disease and insects or
tolerance for environmental stresses like flood, droughts, cold, heat and
salty water and soils," she said. "It has been very difficult to develop
these traits in crops through conventional breeding."

"Tomorrow's Table" was written for consumers, farmers and policymakers who
want to make food choices and policy that will support ecologically
responsible farming practices. It is also for consumers who want accurate
information about genetically engineered crops and their potential impacts
on human health and the environment.

The 232-page book, published by Oxford University Press, chronicles one year
in the lives of the Ronald-Adamchak family. The authors explore the use of
GE in agriculture and the concerns expressed by consumers through dialogue
with friends and family. They discuss the contents of their own largely
organic pantry, what they choose to feed their children, and how over the
last 10 years of their marriage, they have developed a specific criteria for
the use of GE in agriculture.

www.ucdavis.edu