Dr Rattan Lal is Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science at Ohio State University and
Director of the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Rattan Lal Center for
Carbon Management and Sequestration. He is also co-lead of the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health as
part of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, and the 2020 World Food Prize Laureate –
attaining the award for developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food
production that restores and conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change. Over his
career spanning more than five decades and four continents, Dr Lal has promoted innovative soilsaving techniques benefiting the livelihoods of more than 500 million smallholder farmers,
improving the food and nutritional security of more than two billion people and saving hundreds of
millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems. Dr Lal, whose mantra is “healthy soil = healthy
food = healthy people = healthy ecosystems = healthy planet”, is honored to be ranked among the
top 2% of scientists in the world.
Rattan Lal
