Written by Becca Harrison As a winter session course in Cornell University's International Agriculture and Rural Development department, I had the opportunity to travel to India during the month of January 2013 to study their agricultural system. My particular group…
Read More My textbooks definitely did not prepare me for this: India 2013
Hi, I'm Ariela. I am studying nutrition sciences (dietetics) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I have a bachelors in sociology from UC Davis, and I am interested in the sociological aspects of people's lives, especially food and culture. Hanukkah…
Written by Matt DiLeo It's 3 am local time and I'm wide awake, fixated on the challenge of brand differentiation in ketchup...I recently spoke with one of the ketchup tomato breeders I know. Among other topics, he lamented the consumer's…
The Economist recently held an online debate on the motion: This house believes that biotechnology and sustainable agriculture are complementary, not contradictory. Long story short, the debate was disappointing - I think because the subject wasn't very well defined*. Both…
Rachel Carson was undoubtedly a force for good in the 1960s. She singlehandedly started the environmental movement by calling attention to the dangers of unregulated pesticide use. As a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, I especially appreciate…
The 10 April Nature presents the results of a survey that aimed to determine how many scientists are using cognition enhancing drugs. Caffeine is of course the most widely used stimulant, but it seems that quite a few people are…
As discussed in "Farming in Utopia", one of the benefits of modern farming is that it requires fewer people to produce more food. This benefit is ignored by those who wish to eschew technology in farming. People who have the…
What farming is today, what it should be, and what people think it should be are very different things. Pro-organic, pro-biointensive mini- and maxi-activists have a distinct idea of what they think farming should be, but don't quite understand all…
London's Times Online had a great editorial about GMOs this past week, called "Frankenstein foods are not monsters." It's a sort of wake-up call to England and Europe, saying that the benefits of genetic engineering far outweigh hypothetical dangers that…
I was very young when I first read Copernick's Rebellion by Leo Frankowski. It captured my imagination, and is directly responsible for my thoughts on genetic engineering and my desire to become a genetic engineer. The author was ahead of…
