The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) is co-organizing and cosponsoring a hemispheric conference in support of farmer producer organizations (FPOs) in Latin America. “Smallholder Producer Organizations as Business Entities in Latin America: Scope, Challenges and the Road Ahead” will be held on May 6–7 at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) headquarters…

One of TCI’s longest-running projects, “Optimizing Soil Health” established a partnership with the Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University (RPCAU) in Bihar that is educating young soil scientists and undertaking critical studies of soil health and agricultural production in Bihar under the guidance of Ranjan Laik, a professor in the university’s Department of Soil Science. “We worked with…

The increasing global demand for green energy and food necessitates win-win solutions that address these two priorities without undermining each other or causing negative externalities. One potential solution lies in a relatively new technology: agrivoltaics. It enables the co-location of solar panels and shade-tolerant crops, providing an environmentally sustainable source of energy while reducing competition…

As climate change advances, India’s rice-and-wheat-heavy agricultural sector is at risk of weakened production because of temperature changes and more frequent extreme weather events, like droughts. In an effort to make Indian agriculture more climate-resilient, the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) and PRADAN are collaborating on a project in Chhattisgarh aimed at finding…

David (name changed) is one of the few Naga farmers who actually works his farm, where he grows oil palm. Most other landowners appoint “caretakers” to look over their land. David is also a part-time social worker and a grassroots politician. On a hot July afternoon, I reached David’s farm with his youngest son, just…

On December 4–5, 2024, the Observatory of Public Policies for Agrifood Systems (OPSAa) held a hemispheric workshop on “The Transition to a New Generation of Agrifood Systems Policies” at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) headquarters in Costa Rica. The objective of the workshop was to “strengthen regional cooperation to develop strategies to…

Solving a problem like open defecation is not as simple as installing toilets. In 2019, after decades of work, India scored a major developmental victory by providing 600 million people with access to toilets. But while the toilets were built, they are not all being used. According to a 2022 report from the WHO and…

Shree Saha is passionate about data. “For me, it’s matching reality and the data that I find to be quite exhilarating,” she says. “I realize that’s the nerd in me speaking, but I really like working with data quite a bit.” It’s that passion for quantitative analysis that drives the TCI scholar’s doctoral research, which…

With the world’s population growing and dietary preferences changing, rising demand for animal-based food products like milk presents an opportunity for farmers in the developing world. Artificial insemination can help these farmers improve their productivity and increase their incomes, so why aren’t more taking advantage of it? A new article from the Tata-Cornell Institute for…

“Is this Ms. Sunita speaking?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. After her quick confirmation, I explained that I was outside with her order—somewhere near the intersection of her residential colony, though the app’s location marker danced uncertainly on my screen. Minutes ticked by as I scanned the quiet streets in the dark….