Forestry Alum Reflects on Lifetime of Agricultural Development Work Overseas – NC State College of Natural Resources News

George Melton: Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Development in War-Torn Communities

George Melton ‘76 has lived quite the life working overseas, using his education in forestry and soil science to help promote agricultural development in war-torn communities throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Caucasus.

Agribusiness Advisor for Agricultural Support to Azerbaijan Project

Recently, for example, Melton served as an agribusiness advisor for the Agricultural Support to Azerbaijan Project. The $8.5 million project, which operated from 2014 to 2018, aimed to increase the incomes of the country’s agribusinesses and agricultural producers.

International Experience and Counter Insurgency Programs

Melton’s international experience extends beyond agricultural development. During his time overseas, he also served with various American and international military groups in Afghanistan and other countries to help implement counterinsurgency programs.

Involvement in College and Forestry Club

As a student in the College of Natural Resources, Melton, who always loved the outdoors, was heavily involved in extracurricular activities. He not only served as president of the Forestry Club and vice president of the Forestry Council, but he was also a member of the NC State chapter of Xi Sigma Pi, the national honor society for forestry and related sciences.

Impact of Forestry Education

One of his favorite memories while at NC State was his time spent in the Forestry Club. “The Forestry Club at that time was the second richest student organization on campus next to the student government,” Melton said.

“Choosing to major in forestry at NC State was one of the best decisions that I have made.”

The college, which was then called the NC State School of Forestry, taught him a lot that would prove very useful during his decades-long career. He said that professors really instilled in him the values of working hard, not giving up, and developing good relationships with others.

“Choosing to major in forestry at NC State was one of the best decisions that I have made,” Melton said. “We must never stop learning and we must always exceed the expectations of those that we serve. My professors first taught me that and the workplace reinforced it.”

He added, “I came out of forestry school knowing that I should do extracurricular things, whether it was speaking at meetings or joining the Rotary Club or just doing whatever I could out in the communities so that I could really get to know people and develop good strong professional relationships. I learned all of that from my forestry professors.”

Seeking a New Path

Melton worked in various positions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service from 1976 to 1985. During this time, he also earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas in 1983.

In 1985, with encouragement from a friend working in international agriculture at the time, Melton decided to try his hand in the industry. He spent five years with Rhone-Poulence Agrichemical Company as a sales representative before joining Abbott Laboratories where he sold and managed the sales of biological pesticides and plant growth regulators.

During his employment with Abbott Laboratories, Melton volunteered to travel to Iraq to serve as an agricultural advisor in the country’s war zones. While in Iraq from 2008 to 2010, Melton worked to improve relationships with villages in Babylon and Mosul.

Embracing the Mission

After three years in Iraq, Melton traveled to northern Afghanistan as an agricultural advisor with the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to provide technical assistance to farmers. He also managed the Sheep to Shop project.

The Sheep to Shop project was launched by the U.S. Department of Commerce to help local Afghan communities increase their exports of rugs and carpets. Melton helped build a processing facility for wool and a nursery to assist women employed at the facility.

“We were at the opening of the nursery and I’ll never forget this woman lifted her chador, stared me straight in the eye and said through my interpreter, ‘Thank you for putting the nursery in. Now, I don’t have to give my children opium to put them to sleep so I can work.’ That’s what they have to do to survive. If you can help women in these countries, you help a whole family,” Melton said.

In Afghanistan, agriculture is the main livelihood for approximately 75% of the population. The growth of the agriculture sector is crucial for food security and is a major contributor to the country’s economic well-being.

During his time in Afghanistan, Melton learned that a lot of women in the country don’t get nearly enough protein. “Their bones are really brittle and they don’t get enough calcium either, honestly, because they don’t get the milk. So, they’ve got a pretty rough life.”

One of Melton’s most memorable experiences overseas involved his work with Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture, a nonprofit organization. He helped install cold storage units and drip irrigation systems to assist with pomegranate orchards in Azerbaijan.

Melton, in partnership with researchers from Texas A&M University, also assisted in increasing the country’s cotton yields, conducting value chain analysis to assess which aspect of the production required additional funding.

Now retired from his work as an agricultural advisor, Melton lives in Austin, Texas, and manages Lone Oak Ranch and Retreat with his wife, Lenoir. He is currently working on a book about his time spent overseas. In his spare time, he enjoys reading history books and fishing.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDG 1: No Poverty

   • Target 1.4: By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership, and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology, and financial services, including microfinance.
   • Indicator 1.4.2: Proportion of total adult population with secure tenure rights to land, with legally recognized documentation and who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and by type of tenure.

2. SDG 2: Zero Hunger

   • Target 2.3: By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists, and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
   • Indicator 2.3.1: Volume of production per labor unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size.

3. SDG 5: Gender Equality

   • Target 5.a: Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance, and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.
   • Indicator 5.a.1: (a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure.

4. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

   • Target 8.3: Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.
   • Indicator 8.3.1: Proportion of informal employment in non-agriculture employment, by sex.

5. SDG 15: Life on Land

   • Target 15.2: By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.
   • Indicator 15.2.1: Progress towards sustainable forest management.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: cnr.ncsu.edu