Vardan Urutyan, PhD in Economics, is the Director of the International Center for Agribusiness Research and Education (ICARE) and the Head of the Agribusiness Department of the Armenian State Agrarian University (ASAU). Dr. Urutyan has a rich teaching and extensive research experience in the area of vertical coordination in agro-food supply chains, contract farming, agricultural cooperatives, as well as socio-economic impact and sustainability assessments. Dr. Urutyan has extensive experience in consulting farmer organizations and cooperatives in the region and he is a farmer himself too growing wheat, barley and apples. He has served as team leader/coordinator/researcher in a large number of research/education projects in Armenia and abroad. Dr. Urutyan has published over 25 research articles and conference papers about agricultural cooperatives and agro-food system of Armenia. He also published a book about agricultural cooperatives.