This blog post is the first in a series exploring the connection between food packaging and food loss and waste within sustainable food systems, focusing on nutritious, perishable foods. Throughout this series, FLW will be defined as a reduction in the quantity or quality of the edible portion of food intended for human consumption when…

Most nutritionists are concerned with what foods people are putting into their bodies. Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) alumna Jocelyn Boiteau is troubled by the food that doesn’t make it there—the fruits and vegetables that wither on the vine, are lost in transport, or are scraped off plates into garbage bins. As a nutrition researcher, she studies…

Across Bihar, livestock rearing is central to rural livelihoods. Yet low productivity, high input costs, and rising methane emissions pose long-term challenges for both farmers and the environment. Bihar has one of the largest cattle populations in India, but productivity remains low, driven in part by a high proportion of unproductive, non-descript cattle. At the…

TCI Faculty Fellow Harold van Es received three honors from professional societies during CANVAS 2025, an annual gathering of the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America. The Soil Science Society of America gave van Es the Soil Science Applied Research Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in applying research…

A new Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) study on the impact of government nutrition and sanitation programs on anemia in India underscores the importance of a systematic approach that leverages all available pathways to reducing the disease. In a study published in the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Soumya Gupta, Payal Seth…

India, like many countries around the world, faces the daunting challenge of increasing food production to feed its growing population while attempting to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, agri-photovoltaics (agrivoltaics for short) is an important technology for offsetting the emissions associated with agricultural production, but…

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI), with support from the Walmart Foundation, has enhanced the FPO Platform for India, introducing new data and features with information on nearly 45,000 farmer producer organizations (FPOs). The new platform includes a feature called “FPOConnect,” which allows FPOs to market themselves and interact with potential business partners…

Each year, about 32% of the food produced across the world is lost or wasted. Tackling food loss and waste has been on the global agenda for decades, with policymakers citing it as a contributing factor to issues like food insecurity and environmental degradation. Despite this attention, food loss and waste remain a challenge across…

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) unveiled evidence for three pathways to make agriculture in Bihar more productive and environmentally sustainable at an event in Patna on October 16. The event was attended by government officials, researchers and members of the private sector. At the roundtable discussion co-organized by the Centre for Sustainable…

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) has published its 2024–25 Annual Report. The report offers an in-depth look at the full range of TCI’s research and other activities, including grant-funded projects like the Zero-Hunger, Zero-Carbon Food Systems project and field research performed by TCI scholars pursuing graduate degrees. The 2024–25 Annual Report is available for download in…