Nurturing Agribusiness is a valuable resource for farmers, extension agents, future farmers, agriculture and ecology educators in addition to the agribusiness entrepreneur. It is Mike Chilton's personal story of engaging small business potential in specialty agriculture products-an area in which he includes seeds, plant-sourced oils, and plant-material products. His success in the Pacific Northwest offers a case study to support agribusiness entrepreneurs operating in other regions of the United States.
Mike steps forward with the ongoing global need for quality horticultural seeds. Risks and rewards are detailed. He talks about quality assurance requirements and procedures for successfully fulfilling contracts with growers and buyers. Sample agreements are provided. He is adamant about lowering business risks by thinking 'contracts first' and then production. Be reminded of production and marketing principles useful in a near limitless number of specialty products derived from plants. As a business, don't hesitate to begin 'small' and keep a 'lean' operation. Nurturing Agribusiness is Mike's invitation to a wonderful life in agribusiness.
Chilton, Michael: - After receiving a graduate degree in botanical sciences from Iowa State University, Mike spent the next fifteen years in Southeast Asia. He worked initially as an agricultural volunteer and team leader in Vietnam and then as a remote area security development specialist with the Thai Border Patrol. He returned to Vietnam to work in private and public sector development activities before returning to the USA in 1975 to an uncertain future and the development of a new career.He served with a small agricultural company in Salem, Oregon, for eight years catching up on the world of agriculture before establishing his own company, Agricultural Alternatives, Ltd. in 1985. Specialty plant and seed production expanded into a broad range of plant products, all marketed internationally, before he sold the company in 2001.Mike has visited and traveled in over eighty countries and has lived, worked or conducted business in nineteen countries. He lives today near Salem, Oregon, on an acreage he developed with his late wife, Simone, and continues to serve useful purposes following a number of ancillary interests.
Griffin, Bob: - Bob began his international development career with USAID in Laos in 1966. There, he was regional manager for southern Laos working on a new joint venture of USAID and the Royal Lao Government called the Agricultural Development Organization (ADO). ADO was organized to provide Lao farmers with agricultural inputs including tools, machinery, fertilizer and pesticides, as well as credit and marketing services. This work included ultimately unsuccessful efforts to develop a commercial rice plantation in Laos. Subsequently, Bob worked three years on a UNDP regional project that served UN country projects in regard to management, training and communications issues.Specializing in agricultural and rural development, Bob then became an independent consultant working at various types of international development projects. He continued as an independent consultant contracted by various development agencies for the next thirty-five years, retiring in 2013.Bob studied political science at Oberlin College and completed a master's degree in education at the University of Southern California and an MBA in international business at the City University of New York. He lives with his wife, Normalah, in Honolulu and enjoys spending time with his three adult daughters and three grandchildren.
