2020 World Food Prize Laureate and Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Lal Carbon Center at The Ohio State University

Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Lal Carbon Center at OSU, an Honorary Professor of PAU, Ludhiana; IARI, New Delhi; Amity University, Noida, India and National University of Uzbekistan. He was President of the Soil Science Society of America (2006–2008) and the International Union of Soil Sciences (2017–2018). His interests include soil carbon sequestration for food and climate security, conservation agriculture etc.

He is laureate of the 2018 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize, 2018 Glinka World Soil Prize, 2019 Japan Prize, 2020 World Food Prize, 2021 Padma Shri Award of the Government of India and 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for the Humanity. He is IICA’s Chair of Soil and Goodwill Ambassador San Jose, Costa Rica; Global Ambassador for Regenagri, Co-Chair Future Global Council on Soils of the World Economic Forum and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Department of Defense (SERDAP/SAB), Washington, D.C.

He has authored 1,200 articles, 110 books, mentored 425 researchers, has a 204 h-index and citations of 175,000.