COVID-19, Resiliency and Food Security

Join us for Episode 21 on December 4th: World Soils Day: Soil Management for a Sustainable Food System—featuring Dr. Rattan Lal, Soil Scientist and winner of the World Food Prize, and Dr. Fred Magdoff, Soil Scientist and co-author of Building Soils for Better Crops, as well as several other books.

Soil is the foundation of the food system. FAO estimates that 95% of our food is grown on soil. If we want to have healthy people and animals, we need to grow healthy plants. And to grow healthy plants, we need healthy soils. In celebration of December 5th, World Soils Day, this session focuses on the importance of soil to humanity and the global problem of soil degradation and using ecological practices to manage soils to be healthy and resilient. Our speakers—Dr. Rattan Lal and Dr. Fred Magdoff—have each spent a lifetime working on issues related to developing healthy soils and managing soils using ecological approaches.

Rattan Lal, Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University Iceland; IARI, New Delhi, India, and holds a Chair in Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador positions with the Inter-American Institute of Cooperation in Agriculture, San Jose, Costa Rica. He was President of the Soil Science Society of America (2006-2008), and the International Union of Soil Sciences (2017-2018). He researches soil carbon sequestration for food and climate security, carbon footprint, eco-intensification, conservation agriculture, soil restoration, soil health, and soils of the tropics. He has authored about 1000 journal articles, mentored 360 researchers, h-index of 156 and 110,347 citations. He is laureate of the 2018 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize, 2018 Glinka World Soil Prize, 2019 Japan Prize, 2019 U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Award, the 2020 World Food Prize, and 2020 Arrell Food Prize.

Fred Magdoff is Emeritus Professor of Plant & Soil Science at the University of Vermont. His interests range from soil science to agriculture and food (science, production, economics, policy) to ecology to the U.S. economy. His research and outreach was focused on ways to improve the soil fertility, especially the critical role of soil organic matter and ecologically sound ways to produce food. Magdoff received the 2016 Soil Science Society of America’s Presidential Award "presented annually to individuals who have influenced soil science so greatly that the impact of their efforts will be enduring on the future of our science and/or profession.” He is the author of many articles and books, including Building Soils for Better Crops (with Harold van Es) and Creating an Ecological Society (with Cris Williams).

"Food Systems Friday" Webinar Series

Food Systems Friday is presented by the Master of Science in Sustainable Food Systems Program at Prescott College.