Tomorrow’s Table argues for the “judicious incorporation” of genetic engineering and organic farming. I don’t buy it, but the authors make a case worth thinking about.

{sa 0195301757}The husband and wife team of Raoul Adamchak and Pamela Ronald try to educate consumers about “what geneticists and organic farmers actually do.”  The authors work at the University of California, Davis where Adamchak is the manager of the certified organic farm while Ronald is the chair of the plant genomics program.  Ronald insists that she does not receive research money from biotechnology companies. 

Organic certification guidelines do not allow for the use of genetic engineering products. Adamchak and Ronald argue that some genetic engineering on organic farms will help feed the hungry while protecting the remaining wilderness areas, protecting species and protecting the environment from overuse of pesticides and toxic herbicides. 

Only two chapters address organic farming. These explain the importance of agriculture for providing healthy food in a sustainable way and describe some of the methods used to achieve this. I wanted to read more. In the remaining chapters, Ronald explains the science behind biotechnology and refutes the main arguments that are often presented against genetic engineering — and does so in a convincing manner. 

The book is written in an informal style. We are brought into the authors’ family dynamics, discussions around their tables and at parties with friends. For example, Adamchak’s comment about the loss of tomato plants to a late spring frost leads to a short discussion by Ronald on how genetic engineering may one day be able to develop a tomato that can grow in cold conditions. The style makes the book very readable and helps to take the normal heaviness away from such a discussion. The book also includes recipes throughout.

I approached the book with skepticism. I am responsible for the operation of an organic farm and have been critical of genetic engineering from the outset. Life experiences since my studies of agriculture in the 1970s have eliminated my optimism for industrial agriculture. We now have a system of food production that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and ecologically unsustainable. The power of agricultural and trade policy-making rests with larger agri-food corporations and the governments of the richest countries. The result has been a crisis in small-scale agriculture around the world. 

I am tempted by the Tomorrow’s Table argument and the hope presented in the book. It would be wonderful to have a tomato plant that can grow better in our climate. Yet, my skepticism remains.

The book lacks any real critique of our present food system. The value at the system’s core is making profit for the shareholder, not food for the hungry. Food, while cheap for the consumers of the rich countries, is expensive to produce and expensive for consumers in poor countries of the global south.

Hunger is not a problem of production but a problem of politics and distribution of wealth. Biotechnology will not make food cheaper to produce for subsistence farmers, who are essential in feeding the hungry and in preventing hunger in the first place.  

Though Ronald admits that genetic engineering can be manipulated for both positive and negative social results, she dismisses too easily how this technology could be used for the wrong reasons. In the context of our world economy and political reality today, what are the reasonable chances that this technology can be used for the good results intended by the authors?   

The hope of genetic engineering is based on selling a promise. Ronald speaks a great deal about “the potential” of the technology. Today, just two main technologies are in use for the majority of food production — genetic alteration for resistance to a herbicide and genetic alteration for resistance to certain insects. 

Do we really need a tomato that is resistant to frost?

When breeding new crops or new breeds of animals, are there moral issues when we take a gene from an animal or a bacterium and implant it in a plant? Is it a bit like playing God? 

Whether one agrees with the authors or not, this book makes a great contribution to the debate about genetic engineering. While not eliminating my skepticism, it has caused me to pause and enter more deeply into the dialogue.

(Profit is the interim director of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre and local superior of the Jesuit community that runs the organic farm, the Ecology Project  and Loyola House Retreat Centre in Guelph, Ont.)