Growing up on a small farm in Upstate New York, I always knew agriculture as a labor of love, one of recognizing cows by their personality and determining the season based on what was being harvested. As I grew up and got to know other farms, I realized that the majority of food in the…

Farmer producer organizations (FPOs) have the potential to significantly aid smallholder agricultural development through the power of aggregation. In India, where most farms are smaller than a hectare, well-functioning FPOs can boost farm incomes through better market linkages and increased bargaining power. Recognizing that traditional cooperatives had limited success in helping small farmers, the Indian…

UPDATED Oct. 30: A recording of Ram Kaundinya’s lecture is now available on YouTube. Ram Kaundinya, a leading expert on management and agribusiness in India, will deliver a distinguished lecture at Cornell University on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, from 11:30 a.m.­–12:30 p.m. EDT in Mann Library 160. The lecture is titled, “The Role of Biotechnology…

Prabhu Pingali, director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, was elected as a foreign fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). Foreign fellows are individuals who do not live in India and are renowned for their contributions to science and have contributed or can contribute to the progress of science in India….

With a rising global population, demand for food and energy is increasing while the world seeks to move away from fossil fuel use. TCI’s Zero-Hunger, Zero-Carbon Food Systems project aims to reduce the climate impacts of food production in Bihar without compromising agricultural productivity. Some of the mitigating strategies include the reduction of methane emissions…

Rice is a cornerstone of Indian diets, where policies linked to the Green Revolution have helped it and wheat achieve dominance in cropping systems. But methane emissions from rice cultivation play a significant role in exacerbating climate change, and it relies heavily on groundwater irrigation during the non-monsoon seasons. Given these challenges, diversifying India’s agricultural…

UPDATED Oct. 25: A recording of the book talk is now available on YouTube. The authors of The Future of India’s Social Safety Nets: Focus, Form, and Scope will discuss their new book at a “Chats in the Stacks” book talk hosted by Cornell University’s Mann Library on Thursday, September 26. The event will be…

As India continues to grow and transform, the effectiveness of its social safety nets will be of the utmost importance for helping those left behind and addressing the country’s chronically high rates of poverty and malnutrition. The Tata-Cornell Institute’s (TCI) latest book, The Future of India’s Social Safety Nets: Focus, Form, and Scope, tackles these…

A typical TCI scholar is at TCI for about five years—the time it takes to finish their PhD—starting their journey in the classroom before moving to the field to conduct research. TCI Scholar Kasim Saiyyad took a different path. Long before he began his doctoral studies at Cornell, he was a TCI staff member in…

New research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) reveals that Indian efforts to improve household nutrition through women’s empowerment could have a greater impact with a more targeted approach that takes into account different levels of urbanization.   Published in the journal Food Policy, the TCI study assesses the effect of women’s…