IICA Goodwill Ambassador Rattan Lal ranked as the world’s number one scientist in the field of plant biology and agronomy for his academic work and advocacy of sustainable agriculture

San José, May 22, 2024 (IICA). Rattan Lal, a Goodwill Ambassador of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), is currently ranked as the world’s top specialist in plant biology and agronomy by a prestigious platform that provides information about the leading experts in a wide range of academic disciplines.

Lal, who since 2020 has spearheaded the Living Soils of the Americas initiative with IICA, is ranked number one on the Research.com platform, which analyzed the work of some 3500 scientists, using indicators such as awards and citations in other academic works. Research.com is considered the most important platform for information about organizations, academics and students.

Professor Lal has been working with IICA for four years on projects aimed at raising awareness of the importance of soil health and agriculture’s potential as the only productive sector that can sequester carbon and thus contribute to climate change mitigation.

In 2022 and 2023, the prestigious scientist served as IICA’s Special Envoy to the United Nations Conferences on Climate Change (COP 27 and 28), where he emphasized that agriculture is a key sector for solving the environmental crisis, and advocated that farmers whose good practices sequester carbon in the soil receive financial support for their services to the conservation of the planet.

Last week, Lal represented IICA at the G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS), the main global cooperation forum for economic, social and political issues, which took place in Brasilia.

“Our partnership with Professor Rattan Lal and the Rattan Lal Carbon Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (C-MASC), at Ohio State University, has allowed us to make available to Latin America and the Caribbean the knowledge and experience of one of the world’s most important scientists, whose vision of agriculture and health, the “One Health” approach, and the importance of family farming, very much reflects, parallels, and complements IICA’s own vision. Our warmest congratulations to Professor Lal for this acknowledgment,” said the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero.

Regenerative agriculture

The Research.com platform highlighted Rattan Lal’s contribution to promoting the concept of regenerative agriculture across the globe, which has been revolutionary as it is based on good practices, such as the use of cover crops, direct seeding and the use of organic fertilizers, which not only yields productive benefits but also protects biodiversity, reduces soil erosion, and improves water retention.

Thus, regenerative agriculture is a tool for a more sustainable future for agriculture, and enables producers to produce more food while protecting the environment. For his work, Lal received the World Food Prize in 2020, which is considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in its field.

The Living Soils Program, which Lal is implementing with IICA, has served to create a robust coalition working to halt the degradation of a key resource for health and life, and has already made concrete progress since its launch in December 2020.

The initiative links science, public policies, the private sector and the work of restoring soils across the continent, where soil deterioration poses a threat to Latin America and the Caribbean’s position as a guarantor of global food security.

The project is being implemented in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, with the support of the countries’ ministries of agriculture.

Due to the success achieved in the Americas, this year Lal and IICA announced the launch of the Living Soils of Africa initiative, which aims to restore land and improve the climate resilience of that continent’s agrifood systems, under an agreement with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int