Lifetime Goal

To place poor farmers first in international agricultural and rural development, not only in their role and responsibility in meeting food security, but also as the actual people who are often food insecure in the first place.  Through them, be part of an institution/team whose goal is the betterment of rural communities’ livelihoods through ag/rural and social development.

917 Bradfield Hall
(607) 255-1732
E-mail: cm226@cornell.edu

Permanent Address:
Road 68 House #14B Apt, #5 Gulshan 2 Dhaka 1212 Bangladesh
Mobile:  88-0173005856 

BS (Agronomy) 1976 North Carolina State University
MS (Agriculture) 1979 North Carolina State University PhD (Agronomy/Crop Physiology) 1990 University of Georgia

Dr. Craig Meisner has been an Adjunct Associate Professor for 6 years and now an Adjunct Full Professor at Cornell University for over two years based on the scientific contributions given to the Soil Management CRSP and transgenic papaya programs in Bangladesh. Current Project Programs affiliated with Cornell: seeking funding for the research in Arsenic in the Environment for South and SouthEast Asia Regional Consortium composed of Bangladesh institutes/universities, Cornell, Texas A&M, and other countries’ universities so far; seeking funding for permanent bed rice-farming systems for sustainability in high soil arsenic fields and for potential future Global Climate Changes to Bangladesh.  Rice on beds escapes minor flooding and submersion while being more 'aerobic,' facilitating normal growth and less As uptake in high arsenic soils that already exist in Bangladesh due to decades of arsenic contaminated irrigation water being pumped onto the rice lands.
For complete resume, click here.

Research Program

Although my career began with basic research in root physiology, my excellent people skills invoked me to emphasize grower-related problems. In Bangladesh and most of the intensive agriculture areas of the world, reducing the turnaround time with either zero or minimum tillage is making great strides in advancing agriculture economies and employment. Use of new machinery whether attached to 2-wheel rotavators or 4-wheel tractors is necessary to continue the intensification in areas overpopulated such as Asia. I believe that basic research is important that can be later applied with impact to growers’ fields and it can be proposed, funded, and implemented JUST as that—a seamless flow from basic to applied research implemented for grower adoption and livelihood impact, assuming it addresses real growers’ needs.

Selected Publications

Hossain, M.I., C.A. Meisner, M.A. Sufian, M.S. Begum, and M.A. Alim. 2007 Use of nutrients on raised beds for increasing rice production in rice-wheat cropping systems.  Bangladesh J. Prog. Sci. & Tech. 5:9-12.

Panaullah, G.M., Z.U. Ahmed, G.K.M.M. Rahman, M. Jahiruddin, A.T.M. Farid, M.A.M. Miah, C. A. Meisner, R.H. Loeppert, J.M. Duxbury, B. Biswas, J.G. Lauren, D.N.R. Paul, S.C. Sinh, and S.R. Waddington. 2006. Arsenic contamination of waters, soils and crops in Bangladesh. Abstract: 18th World Congress of Soil Science July 9-15, 2006 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Robin D. Graham, Ross M. Welch, David A. Saunders, Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio, Howarth E. Bouis, Merideth Bonierbale, Stef de Haan, Gabriella Burgos, Graham Thiele, Reyna Liria, Craig A. Meisner, Steve E. Beebe, Michael J. Potts, Mohinder Kadian, Peter R. Hobbs, Raj K. Gupta, Steve Twomlow. Nutritious Subsistence Food Systems. Advances in Agronomy, American Society of Agronomy. Volume

Craviari, Thierry, Pettifor, John M, Thacher, Tom D, Meisner, Craig, Arnaud, Josiane, Fischer, Philip R. 2007. Rickets: An Overview and Future Directions, with Special Reference to Bangladesh. J HEALTH POPUL NUTR 2008 26:

Meisner, Craig A., P. Wilkens, M.A. Iqbal, A.K. Habib, D.N.R. Paul, A.H. Chowdhury, and D. Sarker. 2006. Country Almanacs: Geo-Referenced Soil, Social, and other Data for Modelling, Analysis and Policy Planning. Abstract: 18th World Congress of Soil Science July 9-15, 2006 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Haque, M.E. M.A Sufian, S.R. Waddington, Z.I. Sarker, N.R. Sarker and C.A. Meisner.  2006. Triticale is a quality fodder, feed and food for small-scale farmers in Bangladesh. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Triticale Symposium, 3-7 September, 2006. Stellenbosch, South Africa.

For more detailed list of publications, click here.