Brett Melone has been working with farmers in California and Latin America to support their business success and natural resource management, and leading nonprofit organizations that serve farmers for more than 20 years. Melone grew up in South Florida, where his father managed hundreds of acres of avocadoes, limes and mangoes, and his mother owned a tropical plant nursery. The beauty and abundance, as well as the dark underbelly of agriculture that he experienced, had a major impact on his career path. After obtaining his undergraduate degree and working for a few years, Melone obtained an MA in International Environmental Policy at the Monterey Institute, focusing on integrated coastal zone management, watershed management and sustainable agriculture. Following a Sea Grant Fellowship with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, and a Rotary Foundation scholarship with Tierra Viva, Agricultores Orgánicos de Chile, Melone worked on the implementation of Local Agenda 21 in Latin America, and served as the first executive director of CET Sur, a regional NGO focused on agricultural, rural and leadership development. Today he serves as the director of lending with California FarmLink, a community development organization that facilitates access to land for farmers, and access to capital for diverse ag, food and natural resource-based businesses.