Lindsay France/University Photography

From left, K. Vijayaraghavan, Susan Henry, David Skorton and Ronnie Coffman at the 10th anniversary celebration in Alice Statler Auditorium.

Cornell honored its 15-year collaboration with India-based Sathguru Management Consultants and the 10th anniversary of the Cornell-Sathguru Agribusiness Management Program (AMP) at an event at the Alice Statler Auditorium on Cornell's campus June 25.

Sathguru Management Consultants engages in research and technology management and policy advice in South Asia and has collaborated with Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) on such technology transfers as developing fruit and shoot borer-resistant eggplant -- the first genetically modified food crop in South Asia. The company has also worked with Cornell on joint degree programs between CALS and Indian universities and many faculty and student exchanges, including the AMP.

"The Agribusiness Management Program is one of many examples of the longstanding collaborations between India and Cornell that stretches now over 50 years," said Cornell President David Skorton at the event.

The flagship program of Cornell-in-India and Sathguru, AMP is an annual executive development program conducted by various CALS departments in association with Sathguru and brings together high-level policy planners, food industry chief executive officers, academic faculty and leaders from non-government organizations from India and neighboring countries. Participants first travel to India to get a developing-country perspective on agribusiness, and then to Ithaca for exposure to U.S. agriculture and agribusiness.

"Over 250 executives have participated [in the AMP] over the past decade," said Skorton, adding that one participant called AMP "the most useful agribusiness program in India," citing its "mind-changing insights" and "superb networking opportunities."

Ronnie Coffman, director of International Programs of CALS, who worked as a rice breeder in India and South Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, noted how much more efficient collaborations with India's private sector became after meeting K. Vijayaraghavan, Sathguru founding director.

"When I began working with Sathguru, it was just a whole new India for me," he said. "Things started happening in a very expeditious manner."

The partnership "has resulted in numerous advances for Indian agriculture and opportunities for faculty and students in the U.S. and India," said CALS dean Susan Henry. "In CALS, we are proud of our long collaboration with Sathguru, which has enabled us to extend our land-grant mission to this vitally important region of the world," she added.

Some highlights of the Cornell-Sathguru partnership that Henry noted are:

• Strengthened ties between Cornell and India's Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore, the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad and the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad;
• Agricultural technology transfers that have led to fruit and shoot borer-resistant eggplant, drought- and salt-tolerant rice, late blight-resistant potato and groundbreaking work in the genetics of drought-tolerant crops;
• Such two-way student exchanges as the International Agriculture and Rural Development course;
• New masters of professional programs in plant breeding and food science, a dual-degree program that brings Indian TNAU students to Cornell (the first 11 participants in this program just arrived on campus and will stay until December).

Also, this year, the Tata Education and Development Trust committed $50 million to Cornell to establish the Tata Scholarship Fund for Students from India and the Tata-Cornell Initiative in Agriculture and Nutrition, which Sathguru is helping facilitate.