Throwback to Dr Rattan Lal at the 2020 Borlaug Dialogue
The 2020 Borlaug Dialogue was launched by a conversation with Dr Rattan Lal, 2020 World Food Prize Laureate and now CA4SH focal partner, Barbara Stinson, President of the World Food Prize Foundation, and Al Gore, Former Vice President of the United States.
The Borlaug Dialogue is an annual event facilitating conversations addressing global food security and nutrition. The theme of the 2020 dialogue was Breaking New Ground: Building Resilience Today for Improved Global Food Systems Tomorrow in which Dr Lal, together with Mr Gore, examined the emergence of carbon-positive agriculture and negative emission technologies, as well as the policy actions needed to elevate soil health as a critical innovation.
“Improved agriculture and soil management provides us an opportunity to green a recovery from the pandemic crisis by following the strategy of a resilient food supply chain supported by healthy soil”
Dr Lal highlighted the importance of soil in feeding sustainable food systems that are not only good for the planet, but good for people. “It's critical that we make agriculture both part of the solution to [the] restoration of planet Earth and an engine of economic growth,” he said during the session. “Food production systems must restore [the] natural environment while feeding a growing population.” In short, these benefits must not be mutually exclusive.
The 2022 Borlaug Dialogue, Feeding a Fragile World, will be held on October 18 - 20, 2022. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for conversations around how healthy soils contribute to fighting food insecurity and building resilience to shocks!
