On Sunday, April 23, the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) of the ISET Policy Institute was invited to participate in an information fair, the “US-Georgia Friendship Fair”, dedicated to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of U.S. – Georgian diplomatic relations, organized by the Embassy of the United States to Georgia. ISET's representatives showcased the successful cooperation between the ISET Policy Institute and USAID.

Representatives of ISET and the ISET Policy Institute visited JSC Georgian Greenhouse Corporation (hereinafter, Planta), the largest greenhouse in Georgia, within their remit to introduce second-year MA students to the practical side of their agriculture-related studies at ISET.

Back in 2013, the Government of Georgia (GoG) approved a new law entitled “On Agricultural Cooperatives.” The primary goal of this legislation was to support agriculture and rural development in the country by strengthening agricultural cooperatives. Since then, agricultural cooperatives have been springing up like mushrooms; 13,000 farmers have already been registered in 1,500 cooperatives. In order to strengthen their capacity, donors led by the European Union have been providing financial assistance as well as trainings and advisory services to cooperatives and their members.

On Tuesday, April 11, ISET hosted Warwick University Professor Omer Moav. Professor Moav delivered a profoundly interesting lecture to the ISET community about the work that he and his colleagues have worked on together, specifically a revolutionary hypothesis about the emergence of social and political hierarchies in early agrarian societies.

Georgia’s agri-food export is concentrated in few products and few undemanding markets, making it highly vulnerable to shocks on a small number of commodity and geographical markets. At the same time, the diversity of climatic conditions and ample water resources create significant growth and diversification potential for Georgian agriculture