Dr. Pedro Sanchez
Pedro A. Sanchez is a Research Professor with the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Soil and Water Sciences Department, University of Florida. He was previously Director of the Agriculture and Food Security Center and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
He served as Director General of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya from 1991-2001, as co-chair of the United Nations Millennium Project Hunger Task Force from 2002 – 2005, and as director of the Millennium Villages Project from 2004 – 2010. Sanchez is Professor Emeritus of Soil Science and Forestry at North Carolina State University where he was in the faculty from 1968-1991 as the first professor of tropical soils leading the Tropical Soils Research Program. He has lived in the Philippines, Peru, Colombia and Kenya, and supervised research programs in over 25 countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
Sanchez has written groundbreaking books on tropical soil science and hunger, has received three honorary degrees and decorations from universities and governments. Sanchez was anointed Chief by the Luo in western Kenya with the name of Odera Akang’o, and by the Ikaram of southern Nigeria with the name of Atunluse. He is the 2002 World Food Prize laureate, a 2004 MacArthur Fellow, and was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2012. At his induction, the Ralph Cicerone, president of the Academy, summarized why Pedro was becoming a member: “Sanchez has led path-breaking research on soil management for improved food production in the tropical world. His work has influenced research in agronomy, ecology, and changed the way technology is used to increase food production.”