The Frontier Farm: Nourishing the world with AI, Agents, and Human Judgement with Ranveer Chandra and Purvi Mehta

Fall 2026 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development and the Environment Seminar Series

About the speaker

Ranveer Chandra is the Vice President in M365 Copilot and the Chief Technology Officer of Agri-Food at Microsoft. Previously, Dr. Chandra has held various leadership roles, including the Managing Director for Research for Industry, Chief Scientist of Microsoft Azure Global, and Head of Networking Research at Microsoft Research, Redmond. His research has shipped in multiple Microsoft products, including XBOX, Azure, and Windows. He is the inventor of Microsoft FarmBeats—Big Data, AI, Cloud & Edge for Agriculture, which is a Microsoft product, and is being used by multiple agri-food companies. FarmBeats was featured by Bill Gates on GatesNotes, and he has been invited to present to the Secretary of Agriculture, and on TV White Spaces to the FCC Chairman. Dr. Chandra has published more than 100 papers and holds over 150 patents granted by the USPTO. He is an IEEE Fellow and ACM Fellow, and has won several awards, including the MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators Under 35, IIT Kharagpur Distinguished Alumni Award, and was recognized by the Newsweek magazine as America’s 50 most Disruptive Innovators. Dr. Chandra has an undergraduate degree from IIT Kharagpur, India and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Purvi Mehta is the former Senior Advisor of the Global Growth and Opportunities division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. 

Her formal education, up to her Ph.D., is from M.S. University (India), Tokyo University (Japan), and North Carolina State University (USA). Dr. Mehta has worked with leading international organizations like the CGIAR as head of Asia for the International Livestock Research Institute and International Food Policy Research Institute (USAID) as head of South Asia Biosafety program. 

She is on the board of several organizations, including the International Alliance for Ecology and Health, the International Centre for Rural Agriculture, the Board of National Commodity Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX), and the Advisory Council for the World Food Prize. She is also an honorary professor at Amity University in India. She has been closely associated with several agriculture and nutrition policy platforms in India, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa. She serves on several committees and advisory panels, bringing a blend of experience from Asia and Africa. 

Dr. Mehta has two books and over 50 publications to her credit. She is also a regular contributor as invited columnist for media houses like Economic Times, Financial Express, CNBC, etc.

Abstract

Feeding a growing world with scarcer water, tighter margins, and fewer hands is an information problem as much as a resource problem. This talk introduces the Frontier Farm, where farmers, workers, and AI agents operate as one team, and traces AI's progression from field assistants to always-on agents, models tuned on a farm's own data, and robots in the field, arguing throughout that AI should extend farmer judgement, not replace it.

About the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development and the Environment Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations. 

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. Eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Sections of Global Development and Natural Resources and the Environment and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.