Flower department · free guides
Georgia საქართველო
How to get ready, what to do when it hits, and how to recover. Cheapest steps first.
Other country: Kyrgyzstan
Right now, and the biggest risks in Georgia
Right now
- Record grape crop (about 320,000 t) with September protests over price; the state raised purchase prices. Hazelnut prices expected 25–30% lower, a dieback of unknown cause spreading in the west, and the hazelnut subsidy has ended.
- Floods in Kakheti in April and a flash flood in Telavi on 12 Jul 2026.
- Agro-insurance: the state pays 70% of the premium for hail, flood and storm. Orchards and vineyards pay next year's premium by 31 Dec 2026. Spring frost, drought and animals aren't covered.
- Plant the Future closed on 1 Jul 2026; the State Agro Co-financing Programme pays up to 50% of a project, for registered entrepreneurs only.
- Free foot-and-mouth (SAT1) vaccination since Nov 2025.
No official winter 2026–27 forecast was found for Georgia. Europe-wide models point to a mild, wet winter with a strong El Niño; our reading is that this raises the late-frost risk in spring 2027.
The biggest risks
| Risk | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hail and storm |
| 2 | Floods and flash floods |
| 3 | Market and price shocks (grapes, hazelnuts) |
| 4 | Drought and heat |
| 5 | Plant diseases (vines, hazelnut dieback) |
| Also | Stink bug, landslides, late frost, soil loss, animal disease |
What works, cheapest first
- Free: water at night (about 3% lost against 10% by day, Spain); count winter feed against the herd now; sell weak or surplus animals early; check vaccinations; walk the ditches; map frost pockets.
- Cheap: cover and raise hay (uncovered bales on the ground lost about 37% against about 8% covered and raised, US trials); line the worst ditch stretch (lined channel about 4 L/h lost against 205 L/h earthen, Turkmenistan); frost covers (1–5 °C, FAO); flood the field before a frost night (1–4 °C, FAO).
- Bigger, often shared: drip; hail nets (USD 18–20k/ha); cold stores and dryers.
- Acting before the shock: in Mongolia's 2017–18 winter, herders helped early lost fewer animals (horses 7% against 12%); help by 31 January worked best.
Warnings and money
- Official warnings reach about 3 days ahead and carry no farm advice. The METEO.GOV.GE app (since Jul 2026). It doesn't publish a feed we can pull in.
- Nobody sends frost warnings to farmers: the clearest first warning for the app.
- Farmers act on trust and peers; short repeated messages work (six trials, 128,000 farmers).
- After disasters, state aid is late and narrow, and donor help reaches households, not farms. Dated, located photos are often the only proof of damage.
What this means for the farm check (our reading)
- Ask about insurance and the 31 Dec premium first.
- Add: vaccinations and ear tags; farm on the Farm Registry; hay store or barn in a mudflow gully.
- Start warnings with frost, linked to the official source.
- Add a damage-report mode: dated, located photos after a disaster, for insurance and aid.
- Link each farm to the guide for its biggest risk.
Weather and climate
Drought and water shortageDry spells hit eastern Georgia most summers, and drought becomes next winter's feed problem for animals.Hard winter and feed shortageWhen hay runs out before spring grass, animals die in large numbers, and families take years to recover.Mudflow and landslideMudflows and landslides bury yards, fields, cellars and animals in minutes.Flood and flash floodFloods wash away crops, animals, soil and stores several times a year in Georgia.HailHail can strip a vineyard, orchard or bean field in minutes, and in Georgia it is the most costly risk to farms.Late spring frostOne cold night after the trees flower can kill a year's fruit, and in Georgia spring frost is not insured.HeatwaveHeat hurts crops at flowering, cuts milk, stresses bees and is dangerous for people working in the fields.Strong wind and stormStrong wind tears greenhouse film, breaks branches, damages roofs and power lines, and blows topsoil off dry fields.WildfireA grass or forest fire can burn a winter's hay, a barn or a pasture in hours, and fire on farms is hardly insured.EarthquakeAn earthquake can bring down barns and send rock onto pastures.
Animals and crops
Animal diseaseOne sick animal can infect a whole herd and close the market, and some diseases, like brucellosis and anthrax, also make people ill.Crop pests and diseasesPests and plant diseases cut yield and quality every year, and in west Georgia a hazelnut dieback with no known cause is spreading.
Working together
Organising togetherOne farm can't stop a mudflow. A valley that plans together can warn early, move animals in time, share shelter and tools, and speak to the authorities with one voice. This guide shows how to organise: households, village teams and regional clusters, linked across regions by LES.Staying connected when networks failHow a village, a farm or a pasture can keep talking when there's no signal, or when a flood, mudflow, earthquake or power cut takes the network down.Getting heardFor farmers, herders and villages when something bigger threatens their land, water, animals or wildlife: a mine, a data centre or crypto farm, a dam, big agriculture, a land or pasture grab, pollution or poaching. And for spreading what farmers know.