A Prophet Of Soil Gets His Moment Of Fame

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Rattan Lal, an Indian-born scientist, has devoted his career to finding ways to capture carbon from the air and store it in soil.

Ken Chamberlain/OSU/CFAES

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Ken Chamberlain/OSU/CFAES

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Rattan Lal was awarded the World Food Prize this year. He previously won the Japan Prize.

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John Rice/OSU/CFAES

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Soybeans growing at Ohio State’s Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory. It’s part of an experiment aimed at measuring the effects of farming practices on soil quality.

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Soon after he returned to Ohio State University in the late 1980s, Rattan Lal laid out these research plots to study the capacity of soil to store carbon.

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Dan Charles/NPR

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Last year, Lal received the Japan Prize, which many consider second only to the Nobel in scientific prestige. In June, he won the World Food Prize, and former Vice President Al Gore and Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, both called to congratulate him.

There are critics of regenerative agriculture who say the movement has become a fad, promising more than it can possibly deliver. According to the World Resources Institute, no-till farming is unlikely to capture enough carbon to make much of a difference for the climate. And more dramatic changes, such at converting fields back into permanent grasslands, aren’t likely to happen on a large scale because there’s a growing demand for food, and farmers probably won’t stop growing profitable crops.

Lal agrees that rebuilding soil won’t stop global warming, but insists that it can make a difference — for carbon emissions and for a variety of other environmental problems, from reducing water pollution and expanding habitat for wildlife. He’s mostly happy that soil is finally getting the respect it deserves. He even wants it written into law. The U.S. has a Clean Air Act and a Clean Water Act, he says; there should be a Healthy Soils Act, too.