As a young man with a graduate degree in botanical sciences from Iowa State University, Mike Chilton spent fifteen years in Southeast Asia, 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. Finding his footing as an agribusiness entrepreneur, he formed his own company, Agricultural Alternatives, Ltd., in 1985 focusing on specialty plant and seed production. His products expanded into a broad range of plant products, all marketed internationally, before he sold the company in 2001. He is passionate about the opportunities available today in agriculture and writes with encouragement and a mentor's voice. Mike has visited and traveled in over eighty countries and has lived, worked or conducted business in nineteen countries. He lives with his wife, Simone, on an acreage near Salem, Oregon, and continues today to serve useful purposes following a number of ancillary interests. He continues to encourage young people to engage agribusiness and its many opportunities.
