{"id":2186,"date":"2026-09-14T08:56:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T12:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utia.tennessee.edu\/spotlights\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2026-09-14T08:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T12:56:14","slug":"smirti-shahi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utia.tennessee.edu\/spotlights\/smirti-shahi\/","title":{"rendered":"Smirti Shahi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plant sciences PhD candidate uses precision agriculture to advance sustainable cotton production at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Where are you from, and what led you to the Herbert College of Agriculture<\/a> at the University of Tennessee?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am from Nepal. My journey in agriculture started when I began as an undergraduate at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. There, I gained not only a strong foundation of plant biology, but also the huge scope of agriculture. During this time, I interned with the plant botany team at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council where I was involved in a maize and wheat breeding project. It was here I found a deeper purpose to contribute, even in a small way, towards ensuring global food and fiber security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating during the COVID-19 pandemic and witnessing the vulnerabilities in global agribusiness economics systems, I realized the critical importance of sustainable food chains. This experience inspired me to pursue my master\u2019s degree in agribusiness economics. However, as I delved deeper into the field, I came to understand that climate change poses a significant, overarching threat to the global agricultural industry. This realization brought me to the conclusion that precision agriculture is not just a modern convenience, it\u2019s a necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n