As a TCI scholar pursuing a PhD in international nutrition, Kathryn Merckel led a trial testing the potential of orange-fleshed sweet potato to improve nutritional outcomes in Uttar Pradesh, India. After graduating in 2020, Merckel now works to improve nutrition through interventions across the world as the associate director for nutrition and food systems at…

In an interview with The Times of India, Prabhu Pingali, founding director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) at Cornell University, explained that while climate change poses a serious threat to India’s food system, timely adaptations can mitigate the worst of its effects. Asked about the vulnerability of India’s food system to…

Healthy soils are key to producing nutritious foods. In hopes of boosting agricultural productivity in India, TCI’s Soil Health Project in Bihar examines the links between soil health, land management, and cropping systems to assess their impact on agricultural yields. But what is soil health, why do we care so much about it, and how…

Policymakers seeking to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) like zero hunger should be mindful of how the pursuit of one goal can aid or impede progress toward others, researchers for the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) say in a new article in the journal Environmental Challenges. The SDGs are a collection of 17…

Students representing 28 different fields across Cornell University competed to find the best digital solution to food systems challenges at the fourth annual Digital Agriculture Hackathon, held from March 11-13. The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) cosponsored the event, which was hosted by the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA). The hackathon is an interdisciplinary event…

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) is a cosponsor of the 2022 Digital Ag Hackathon organized by the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA). Open to all Cornell University undergraduate and graduate students, the hackathon takes place March 11-13. Now in its fourth year, the Digital Ag Hackathon is an interdisciplinary event that…

When one-third of the world’s population went into lockdown in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges of global food security came to the fore. In India, the country-wide lockdown threatened the entire food system. Disrupted food production and supply chains induced by an external shock in the form of the pandemic exposed multiple…

A panel of experts at a webinar hosted by the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) on Tuesday, February 15, spoke about the links between agriculture and climate change and the potential to create zero-hunger, zero-carbon food systems in India. “How do we get to our zero-hunger goal while at the same time being…

India’s falling birth rate will necessitate some policy changes to effectively manage the fiscal and health-related challenges associated with aging populations, TCI Director Prabhu Pingali and gender and nutrition specialist Shubh Swain argue in an op-ed published in The Financial Express. Recent survey data shows that India’s fertility rate has fallen below the replacement rate,…

Can India achieve zero hunger while significantly lowering the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its agricultural sector? The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) at Cornell University will host a webinar with leading experts to tackle this question and understand the significant challenges in achieving a zero-hunger, zero-carbon agricultural system in India. Entitled “Zero-Hunger,…