Family Farming is the predominant form of agriculture. It represents the main source of income in rural areas and produces majority of agricultural products in Georgia.

On January 22, Dr. David Ubilava, from the University of Sydney, led a seminar on the subject of his recent paper, "Rises and Falls in Primary Commodity Prices: Blame it on ENSO or Leave Them, Kids, Alone?"

During the last three months, the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) of ISET-PI was working on a study about family farming in Georgia. Within this project, we conducted interviews with farmers and owners of agribusinesses. These interviews elicited many intriguing facets of Georgian agriculture, but one aspect I found particularly interesting was that Georgian farmers apparently have a rather negative view on agricultural jobs.

The study assesses a possible impact of USAID-funded agricultural projects in Georgia on U.S. commodity production and U.S. jobs and workers rights. USAID's yearly obligation requires confirmation that USAID-funded activities do not impact U.S. jobs and workers rights and do not result in increased competition of Georgian products with similar commodities produced in the U.S.

On December 4 and 5, Head of the Agricultural Policy Research Center at the ISET Policy Institute Pati Mamardashvili and Senior Research Associate Salome Gelashvili participated in the National Conference for Agricultural Information and Consultancy Centers of the Ministry of Agriculture sponsored by USAID/SEAS Project.