Shriya

Structural contradictions in organic agriculture: a DPSIR analysis of California production

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Paper accepted in Agriculture and Human Values uses the DPSIR framework to evaluate pathways that cause fragmentation in the organic agricultural innovation system.

Agronomic and systemic challenges in organic agriculture exhibit asymmetric economies of scale

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Publication in Agricultural Systems finds that on organic farms, agronomic challenges increase with farm size, while systemic challenges may decrease with increasing farm size.

Incremental Urbanism and the Circular City: Analyzing Spatial Patterns in Permits, Land Use, and Heritage Regulations

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Spatial analysis protocol to evaluate the impact of zoning =and historic preservation regulations on patterns of building demolition and reinvestment in Ithaca, New York.

Stakeholder Engagement for Climate-Resilient Crops in India

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

India’s smallholder farmers face compounding pressures from climate variability, input costs, and market uncertainty. This project, based at the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley, examines the institutional and political economy conditions shaping the development and deployment of climate-resilient crops in Indian agriculture — with a particular focus on rice.

The work involves facilitating advisory panels that bring together farmers, scientists, policymakers, and practitioners to guide project priorities. Drawing on fieldwork with 40+ participants across the rice value chain, I translate ground-level insights into strategies for scientific development and dissemination.

MyAgLife Podcast: California Organic

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

July 2024 interview with Taylor Chalstrom on the MyAgLife podcast to discuss research findings in California organic

CCOF Blog Post

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Blog post from April 2024 on the California Certified Organic Farmers website summarizing research findings from UC OAI needs assessment

Challenges in Organic Agriculture in California: Summary

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Summary of a statewide mixed-methods needs assessment of organic agriculture in California to inform institutional priorities of the UC ANR’s Organic Agriculture Institute.

Statewide Needs Assessment for Organic Agriculture in California

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

California’s organic sector is the largest in the United States, yet growers face persistent agronomic, economic, and regulatory challenges that limit the sector’s growth and resilience. This project conducted a statewide mixed-methods needs assessment on behalf of the UC Organic Agriculture Institute, drawing on 65+ in-depth interviews and surveys with 400+ organic farmers across the state.

Findings informed institutional research priorities and contributed to the development of a statewide organic agriculture knowledge network. The project also examined how challenges in organic agriculture exhibit asymmetric economies of scale — with smaller operations facing disproportionately greater burdens — and the structural contradictions embedded in California’s organic production system.

Refining large-scale spatial metrics of food access

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Publication in Applied Geography finds that current food access metrics underestimate rural access and fail to distinguish between physical access and nutritional access.

Social Capital and Resilience in Local Food Networks

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Economic shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the fragility of local food supply networks while simultaneously demonstrating the adaptive capacity of farmers embedded in strong social networks. This project examines how access to varied social capital influences farmer adaptations to economic shocks, and how individual choices transmit over wider networks to influence food supply chain resilience.

In partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension, I conducted sequential surveys and interviews with vegetable growers in New York State. Preliminary findings highlight the role of product diversity and informal local partnerships in fostering farm resilience — recasting community solidarity as a determinant of resilience rather than a byproduct of it.

Incremental Urbanism and the Circular City

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Cities accumulate material, regulatory, and spatial histories that shape how they can transition toward more circular economies. This project analyzes spatial patterns in building permits, land use designations, and heritage regulations to examine how incremental urbanism — the gradual, small-scale transformation of the built environment — contributes to circular city frameworks.

The work draws on spatial analysis across multiple urban contexts, interrogating how existing regulatory structures enable or constrain circular transitions at the neighborhood scale.

Accelerated consensus in multi-agent networks via memory of local averages

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Theoretical model demonstrating faster convergence as compared to the paradigmatic DeGroot model.

Refining Spatial Metrics of Food Access

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Existing tools for measuring food access — including the USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas — suffer from insufficient spatial granularity, binary classifications, and limited integration of health outcome data. This project proposes an alternative methodology using spatial analysis of Google Maps data combined with CDC health outcomes data from the PLACES dataset.

A geographically weighted regression model for New York State demonstrates the relationship between food access and obesity rates at the census tract level.

On Conservation, From Melghat

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Written in 2018, during the public debate around shoot-at-sight orders on Avni, a tigress in central Maharashtra.

Yesterday I saw the photo of a man viciously beheaded, his limbs askew, and skin peeled off his back to reveal a hollowed out trunk. A bloody, gouged head was located a distance away. I waited for the instinctive visceral response to such violence but it was curiously muted, perhaps by familiarity, for such photos are circulated with regularity on these particular WhatsApp groups. The title of this group suggests that it is for those interested in wildlife issues in Maharashtra, but members, as is often their wont, tend to accommodate tangential subjects. This man was attacked by an animal in central Maharashtra while guarding his fields. Rarely a week passes without a death or injury credited to animal attacks — tigers, leopards and most commonly, sloth bears.

On Drudgery

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Written in 2015 during a fellowship year in Jawhar, Maharashtra.

He sits under the shade of the awning, a neighbour’s phone clutched in his hand, idly flicking ants, both real and imaginary, from his dhoti while waiting for his daughter to call. This is one of the few spots in the village where he gets cellular reception and so here he must sit. Occasionally a ball, carelessly thrown by one of the younger fielders, will sidle up and he will throw it back, a reprieve from the monotony. He glances intermittently towards the phone, willing it to ring. He has been here for well over half an hour but he dare not go back in case he misses the call, neither can he call her for the phone has no balance. He leans back and waits.

On Healthcare, From Jawhar

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Written in 2015 during a fellowship year in Jawhar, Maharashtra.

Among the many problems that afflict rural India are inefficient healthcare and nutrition. On paper, it boasts a remarkable structure of primary and secondary healthcare centres and hospitals reinforced by auxiliary nurses, ASHA workers and midwives, not to forget various schemes to promote child nutrition. On paper only. Reality witnesses a number of hardworking individuals, fighting to dispense good health in a complicated system of interlinked issues, fuelled by the greed of corruption and the simplicity of ignorance.

Swachh Bharat: Industry Engagement

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Contributor (Industry Profile Team) on a report examining the scope of private sector engagement in India’s Swachh Bharat sanitation initiative, produced by the Centre for Policy Research.

On Reservation, From Jawhar

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Written in 2014 during a fellowship year in Jawhar, Maharashtra.

Caste-based reservation for higher education and jobs is a much-debated subject when we run dry of other topics of conversation. If people are unacquainted or conversation stilted, whip out a discussion on reservation and watch how people warm up to each other as they bond over the unfairness meted out over the years, over how they missed their true callings thanks to a perverse government machinery that insists on propagating the ridiculous farce that is reservation. Point noted.

Assessing Tourism Infrastructure in Hyderabad, India

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Master’s thesis examining tourism infrastructure in Hyderabad, India, analyzing gaps in accommodation, transport, and visitor services relative to the city’s heritage and cultural assets.

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, I’m Shriya
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I am a social scientist with a PhD in Regional Science from Cornell University.

My work sits at the intersections of food and agricultural systems, rural and community development, and public policy. I study questions around organic and sustainable agricultural policy, adoption of novel agricultural technologies, and pathways toward more equitable and resilient farming economies.

Teaching

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Teaching Philosophy
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My approach to teaching is shaped by a simple conviction: I want to train practitioners who can appreciate the intricacies of the world outside the classroom and engage with it in imaginative and meaningful ways. An experience I carry with me is from a student in an introductory world geography course who took a lesson on Central Asia and applied it analytically to a photograph in his textbook — pointing out Soviet architecture alongside Coca-Cola and LG logos as evidence of multiple developmental pressures. That moment of a student making independent connections is what I am always working toward.

Shriya

Structural contradictions in organic agriculture: a DPSIR analysis of California production

Agronomic and systemic challenges in organic agriculture exhibit asymmetric economies of scale

Incremental Urbanism and the Circular City: Analyzing Spatial Patterns in Permits, Land Use, and Heritage Regulations

Stakeholder Engagement for Climate-Resilient Crops in India

MyAgLife Podcast: California Organic

CCOF Blog Post

Challenges in Organic Agriculture in California: Summary

Statewide Needs Assessment for Organic Agriculture in California

Refining large-scale spatial metrics of food access

Social Capital and Resilience in Local Food Networks

Incremental Urbanism and the Circular City

Accelerated consensus in multi-agent networks via memory of local averages

Refining Spatial Metrics of Food Access

On Conservation, From Melghat

On Drudgery

On Healthcare, From Jawhar

Swachh Bharat: Industry Engagement

On Reservation, From Jawhar

Assessing Tourism Infrastructure in Hyderabad, India

About

Hi, I’m Shriya #

Teaching

Teaching Philosophy #

Hi, I’m Shriya
#

Teaching Philosophy
#