WCR Presents: Rethinking coffee carbon accounting

"Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People = Healthy Ecosystems = Healthy Planet." This is the mantra of Dr. Rattan Lal, winner of the 2020 World Food Prize for his pioneering work in soil science. Dr. Lal is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the newly formed CFAES Dr. Rattan Lal Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University. He was included in the Thomson Reuters list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (2014-2016), and he is among Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers in Agriculture (2014-2020). He has authored/co-authored over 1000 refereed journal articles and more than 550 book chapters, has written and edited/co-edited more than 100 books. He is Chair in Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainability Issues for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and member of the 2021 United Nations Food Security Summit Science Committee. In addition to receiving the prestigious World Food Price in 2020, Dr. Lal has been awarded the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize (2018), Glinka World Soil Prize (2018), Japan Prize (2019), U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize (2019), Arrell Global Food Innovation Award (2020), and the Padma Shri Award (2021).

Dr. Acharya is working as Post-Doctoral Scholar at the CFAES Dr. Rattan Lal Carbon Management and Sequestration Center starting from August 2021. He completed his PhD in Soil Science from North Dakota State University in July 2021. Dr. Acharya has worked as program coordinator from 2011-2016 in different non-governmental organizations (World Wildlife Fund, ForestAction and CAED) in remote villages of Nepal addressing food security and sustainable agriculture. He was awarded with Nepal Vidhya Bhusan – Kha from the President of Nepal for his academic excellence in 2016. He has authored and co-authored 12 peer reviewed journal articles related to soil carbon, tillage, drainage, soil nutrients, soil moisture, machine learning.

Vern Long is the Chief Executive Officer of World Coffee Research, the world’s first global, industry-driven collaborative agricultural R&D organization for coffee. A plant breeder by training, Long brings 25 years of experience in international agricultural research with a focus on smallholders, and deep expertise on genetic resources policy. Prior to joining WCR, Long served as the director of the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Long has substantial experience convening diverse stakeholders — from industry, government and research institutions—to formulate a shared research agenda to address pressing challenges in agriculture. She received her PhD in plant breeding from Cornell University.