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Dr. Pedro A. Sánchez, an internationally renowned soil scientist, visionary leader and tireless advocate for food security, passed away Monday morning, Jan. 12, 2026. He was 85.
Born Oct. 7, 1940, in Cuba, Sánchez grew up on his family’s farm outside Havana. As a child, he often traveled throughout the country with his father, an agronomist. It was during these trips that he gained early exposure to the soils and farmers that would later shape his life’s work. Those formative experiences instilled in him a deep respect for agriculture and a lifelong commitment to improving the productivity and sustainability of tropical soils.
After coming to the United States, Sánchez earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Cornell University. He went on to devote more than six decades to advancing soil science and sustainable agriculture across the tropics. His career spanned universities, international research centers and development initiatives around the world.
A Career of Global Impact in Tropical Agriculture
He began his professional career at North Carolina State University, where he helped establish and expand the Tropical Soils Research Program. His work took him throughout Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. His earliest pioneering efforts found success in Brazil’s Cerrado region, making acid tropical soils productive, and in the Peruvian Amazon, developing alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture.
Sánchez’s global influence deepened through leadership roles at major international research institutions, including the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Colombia. From 1991 to 2001, he served as director general of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, helping to elevate agroforestry as a cornerstone of sustainable development.
After a decade in Kenya, Sánchez joined Columbia University’s Earth Institute. While there, he led the United Nations Hunger Task Force and the Millennium Villages Project. That involved working in 12 African countries to demonstrate how integrated investments in agriculture, health and education could lift communities out of poverty.
In 2016, Sánchez joined the University of Florida as a research professor in what is now the UF/IFAS Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences. During his time at UF, he reinvigorated the department’s focus on tropical soils, taught a highly popular graduate course in tropical soils management, and completed the second edition of his seminal textbook, Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics, now published in multiple languages. He also strengthened UF/IFAS’ global reach by building enduring international partnerships, including a key collaboration with the Federal University of Lavras in Brazil.
A Tribute from Dr. Jack M. Payne
Dr. Jack M. Payne, who served as UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources and leader of UF/IFAS from 2010 to 2020, reflected on Sánchez’s impact and friendship:
“One of the highlights of my career at UF was hiring Pedro Sanchez and his spouse Cheryl Palm away from the Earth Institute of Columbia University. Having been the winner of the World Food Prize, as well as a MacArthur Genius Award winner and a member of the National Academy of Sciences made Pedro a Gold Star hire. Cheryl also was an accomplished ecologist.
“Pedro and Cheryl became incredible friends, and we had many adventures together. I traveled several times to Cuba with him, where he worked with Cuban scientists to try and improve the productivity of Cuba’s soils. We traveled to Kenya together, where he served for many years as director general of the World Agroforestry Institute in Nairobi and was also involved in the Millennium Village Project.
“He was one of the kindest, smartest, most genuine people I have ever known. My life has been blessed with his and Cheryl’s friendship. He brought so much goodwill and a better quality of life to so many people in this world. He was a humble giant among people, and I am devastated at his passing.”
A Lasting Legacy
Sánchez received some of the highest honors in science and agriculture, including the World Food Prize in 2002, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2012. He held four honorary doctorates, and President Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science. In recognition of his deep engagement with communities, the Luo community in western Kenya anointed him an elder, and he received traditional honors in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Despite these accolades, those who knew Sánchez best remember him for his humility, generosity, curiosity and deep commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists. He never lost sight of the people behind the problems he worked to solve. His legacy lives on in the students he taught, the institutions he strengthened, and the countless communities around the world whose lives were improved by healthier soils and more sustainable agriculture.
Featured image of Pedro Sanchez and Cheryl Palm in Zambia with agricultural officials from the UF/IFAS Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences.
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