The UK Royal Society’s long-awaited study on improving agricultural productivity and increasing food security was released this morning.  Although I’ve only had a chance to skim the report, it seems to have lived up to its promise of eschewing politically correct pop-environmentalism and instead embracing the use of science and technology for producing more food on less land.  The report acknowledges that farming is an inherently un-natural and ecologically disruptive endeavor.  But, it suggests that a healthy concern for protecting the environment necessitates…

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Last week, Bill Gates announced at the World Food Summit in Des Moines that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be redoubling its efforts to improve agricultural productivity among poor farmers in less developed countries.  He announced that the foundation would be making $120 million worth of new grants for agriculture research and development.  Importantly, Gates eschewed the politically correct approach urged by major environmental organizations and explained, as Reuters put it, that:

“The fight to end hunger is being hurt by…

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Congratulations to Pamela Ronald, a UC Davis plant pathology professor, on winning one of this year’s Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers.  The award is for a column Ronald wrote for the Boston Globe last year, and which was based in part on her wonderful book, Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetic and the Future of Food, co-authored with her husband Raoul Adamchak.

Ronald and Adamchak, who is an organic farmer, reject the dogma that only…

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