NANJING, China — Rattan Lal, distinguished university professor of soil science at Ohio State University, yesterday (Oct. 28) received the 2018 World Agriculture Prize from the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA).
His work focuses on the ability of soil to address such global challenges as climate change, food security and water quality. The award honors Lal’s “exceptional and significant lifetime achievements” in the agricultural and life sciences, GCHERA officials said.
It was presented in a ceremony at China’s Nanjing Agricultural University. Lal is a faculty member in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), part of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
He is the director of CFAES’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (CMSC), conducts research with support from the college’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, is an adjunct professor with the University of Iceland, and is the current president of the Vienna-based 60,000-member International Union of Soil Sciences.
The prize carries with it a cash award of $100,000, which Lal said he will donate to an endowment being developed to provide long-term support to the CMSC.
Lal founded the center in 2000.
Further details about Lal’s research and background can be found at go.osu.edu/LalGCHERAprize.
