URBANA, Ill. – Inder Majumdar, a graduate student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, has been named a 2023 Farm Foundation Agricultural Scholar. This annual program is sponsored in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS).

Majumdar received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Babson College. After graduation, he worked as a consultant at Deloitte and as head of analytics for WayCool Foods, a farm-to-fork agriculture company headquartered in Chennai, India.

As a graduate student in ACE, Majumdar conducts research at the intersection of economic development and agricultural commodity markets under the guidance of Joe Janzen and Hope Michelson. He is currently working on a research project that uses a choice experiment and analysis of onion market price data to evaluate the forward contract preferences of smallholder onion farmers. He hopes to begin PhD studies in agricultural economics in Fall 2023 and plans to pursue a career as an academic researcher focused on research questions at the intersection of commodity price analysis, firm-decision making, and economic development, both in the United States and abroad.

Farm Foundation, an accelerator of practical solutions for agriculture, selects up to 15 applied or agricultural economics graduate students each year to join the Agricultural Scholars program for inspiration and training in agricultural policy, commodity market analysis, agricultural finance, and other applied fields. Events and projects are conducted throughout the year, including a mentorship with an ERS senior analyst, a research project, and ag-focused forums and meetings.

For the full list of 2023 Agricultural Scholars and for more information about the program, see Farm Foundation.