Retired Senior Economist,
California State Office of Economic Research

“My life has had a ‘one thing leads to another’ pattern that was initially set in motion by 4-H membership. 4-H was a major contributing factor to my receiving a Cornell University National Scholarship that made attendance possible and started me on a career in international agriculture.”

Starting as a Watertown Township 4-H Club member, Ray Borton’s 4-H experiences carried over to his undergraduate days at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture. A Michigan representative at one of the first National 4-H Camp sessions in Washington, D.C., Borton later traveled to the Netherlands as an International Four-H Youth Exchange (IFYE) delegate. Upon graduation, he served two years in the U.S. Army running a restaurant mess hall for 1,500 soldiers. After receiving his master’s degree at MSU in agricultural economics and journalism, Borton traveled to South Vietnam to work on an agricultural experiment station with International Voluntary Services, a pre-Peace Corps organization. Subsequent Ph. D. work at Montana State University and post-doctorate research at Stanford University led him to further studies in Mexico and Ethiopia. Between 1970 and 1974, Borton and his family lived in the Philippines where he served as an associate agent for the Agricultural Development Council and as a visiting professor at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos.

After three years with California State Polytechnic University, Borton began work with the California State Department of Food and Agriculture, retiring as a senior economist in the state’s Office of Economic Research in 1996. A proud Cornell alumnus, he remains active in the school’s California alumni chapter. He was a recipient of Cornell’s 2007 Outstanding Alumni Award and has also been honored with the 2005 Volunteer of the Year Award at International House, a Davis, California-based organization dedicated to providing services to foreign students, scholars and visitors. Borton and his wife, Verena, were recognized as the City of Davis’ Citizens of the Year in 2005. True to his IFYE roots, Borton is a strong supporter of international study abroad programs at the University of California-San Diego and the Michigan 4-H International Programs Endowment.