Tata-Cornell Institute

06/03/2026

When TCI Scholar Apurva Borar surveyed 801 unemployed Indian women, 97% said that they wanted to work, but only a third of them had ever held a paid job. Why?

Read Apurva's blog post about the barriers keeping some women from working ℹ️ https://tci.cornell.edu/?blog=why-women-want-to-work-but-dont-aspirations-constraints-and-reality

06/01/2026

76% of India's working women are farmers. Can women's self-help groups help them improve their livelihoods by forming farmer producer organizations?

Learn more 👩‍🌾 https://tci.cornell.edu/?blog=is-the-formation-of-farmer-producer-organizations-from-self-help-groups-the-key-to-womens-agricultural-development

05/28/2026

From farm to fork, value chains are critical to making nutritious foods accessible and affordable. This spring, TCI researchers traveled across four states in India to assess the value chains for five key crops: maize, black gram, orange, eggplant, and soybean. Their findings will help make these value chains stronger and more climate-resilient.

Learn more 🍊 https://tci.cornell.edu/?blog=farm-to-fork-exploring-food-value-chains-in-india

05/26/2026

Congratulations to TCI Scholars Sumedha Minocha and Bharath Chandran C, who graduated from Cornell University this past weekend!

Learn more 🎓️ https://tci.cornell.edu/?news=tci-celebrates-two-graduating-scholars

05/22/2026

In agriculture, is timing everything? In an op-ed in The Policy Edge, TCI alumnus Chanchal Pramanik argues that India's agricultural extension services could be improved by aligning information delivery with farmers' schedules. For example, weather forecasts are most useful prior to transplanting and harvesting.

Read the op-ed ℹ️

Digital farm advisory works best when it shapes decisions before risks emerge

05/20/2026

From the FPO Platform for India to the District-Level Database for Indian Agriculture, we have the data dashboards needed to understand Indian food systems.

Visit our website to access the data ℹ️

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition is a long-term research initiative that develops and assesses innovative, food systems-based approaches to reducing poverty and improving nutrition and livelihoods in the developing world, with a specific focus on India.

05/18/2026

🎉🎉🎉 Congratulations to TCI Scholar Bharath Chandran C! 🎉🎉🎉

Bharath, who will graduate with an MPS in Global Development this weekend, received an Outstanding Teaching Assistant award from the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

05/15/2026

If you want to improve the likelihood that an FPO will survive once government support expires, consider adding women to its leadership team. Our data shows that female-led FPOs have higher functionality rates than male-led organizations.

Learn more ℹ️ https://tci.cornell.edu/?blog=seven-charts-that-explain-why-some-fpos-succeed-while-others-fail

05/13/2026

“The Indian government has made a big bet on the ability of FPOs to improve agricultural productivity and increase farmer incomes. Assessing the FPO ecosystem—what works and what doesn’t—is crucial to ensuring that wager pays off.”

Read our report on FPOs in India 📗 https://tci.cornell.edu/?publications=the-state-of-farmer-producer-organizations-in-india-performance-trends-and-the-role-of-gender

05/11/2026

“Reducing food loss and waste is crucial to building sustainable food systems that support healthy diets, especially in developing countries. But our efforts to address loss and waste must be holistic, prioritizing food security while minimizing tradeoffs with our environmental and socioeconomic objectives.”

Download Wasted Potential today 📙 https://tci.cornell.edu/?publications=wasted-potential-tackling-food-loss-and-waste-across-transforming-food-systems