Frank Riley wins prestigious ‘Friend of the County Agent’

Of course, the award comes as no surprise to those who know Riley, who is the embodiment of public service. He wears many hats in the name of assisting area farmers, supporting local youth, protecting lives and property from wildfire, preserving agricultural heritage and much more.

This particular award acknowledges Riley’s outstanding support of county agents through his leadership at Chestatee-Chattahoochee RC&D, which serves Union, Towns, Rabun, White, Lumpkin, Habersham, Stephens, Dawson, Forsyth, Hall, Banks, Franklin and Hart counties.

County agents work as part of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension to bring “research-based education directly to individuals, families and communities,” with emphases on agriculture, the environment and 4-H Youth Development.

Extension initiatives often require special funding at the local level, and Riley never disappoints. He has perfected the grant-writing process and is always ready at a moment’s notice to provide financial donations to fund the research and educational requests of county agents.

Jacob Williams has been the Towns/Union Extension Agent for seven years, and over that time, “Frank has never told me ‘No’ when I asked him for funding or had a wild idea for a program,” he said, adding, “Other agents in his district can also attest to his generosity and support.”

Williams nominated Riley for the award over the summer, submitting a lengthy list of assistance he has given county agents in his service area, including financial and in-kind donations, event attendance and sponsorship, personal equipment and labor, and much else besides.

“He has sponsored everything from vegetable production meetings, cattlemen meetings, Georgia Mountain REC field days, 4-H Cloverleaf DPA, and 4-H Giant Pumpkin Contest,” Williams wrote.

And Riley goes above and beyond to help county agents in other ways. For example, in a 2021 research project to support local farmers, he let Williams plant nine sweet sorghum varieties on his property. Riley even performed all the tractor work himself and paid for fertilizer and herbicide.

“Frank’s motto is: ‘We will either find a way or make one!’ He applies this motto to everything that he does and is always looking to find a way to say ‘Yes’ to an idea,” Williams wrote.

That “Yes” usually comes with generous support for county agents; between Union and Towns, Riley has contributed monetary and equipment donations worth over $20,000. That’s not to mention the thousands of dollars he has sent to benefit the other 11 counties in his service area.

“He uses the grant funds at his disposal to fund ideas that county agents have and collaborates with them to achieve their goals for a better Georgia,” Williams wrote.

Further, both Union and Towns are recipients of several of the 75 high tunnel greenhouses Riley has erected in his RC&D district, including at the schools, and he regularly sponsors local youth livestock shows and other projects for the 4-H Program administered by UGA Extension.

“The grants I write always include Future Farmers of America and 4-H projects,” Riley said. “I funnel a lot of money to Jacob and his cohorts to do stuff for the kids, and that’s what it’s all about, is having generations behind us come up.”

In light of all this assistance, without a friend like Frank, Williams wrote, “many of the programs and resources we have in our respective counties would just not be possible at all.”

“We owe Frank our respect and gratitude for being a great friend of the community as well as Friend of the County Agent,” Williams concluded.

On Nov. 11, Riley traveled with Williams to the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents Annual Conference in Columbus, Georgia, to receive the award: a large plaque containing a reproduction of “The County Agent,” an iconic painting by Norman Rockwell.

Riley has been humbled by the whole experience, which hits close to home; his two sisters, a brother-in-law and his grandfather, Walter Brown, all served UGA Extension – something Riley wanted to do from a young age, though career opportunities took him elsewhere.

Brown was actually the first county agent in Towns County dating all the way back to 1917. He was promoted to district agent and worked his way up to Director of Extension for the whole state of Georgia during World War II before retiring in the late 1950s.

Riley may not have gone on to become a county agent like his family members, but as Executive Director for Chestatee-Chattahoochee RC&D, he has “a different opportunity” to benefit local agriculture, and he exercises that opportunity “to its fullest extent,” a grateful Williams said.

And the feeling of gratitude is mutual, Riley said: “I appreciate Jacob so much for nominating me (as Friend of the County Agent). All the work I do is not for the awards, but I’m glad it’s helping.”

The tireless public servant won another major award in recent years – the nationally renowned Silver Smokey Bear Award in recognition of his “career-long dedication to promoting wildfire prevention.”

Regarding wildfire, Riley works at the national, state and local levels to safeguard life and property. For instance, he has grown Towns County into the largest Firewise USA community program in the state, and Chest-Chatt RC&D serves as the Georgia liaison to Firewise USA.

It’s clear from both the Friend of the County Agent and Silver Smokey Bear awards that Riley applies the same philosophy in everything he does, namely, using “every opportunity, small and large,” to make a difference in his communities.

Riley also serves as a supervisor for the Blue Ridge Soil & Water Conservation District; chairs the Towns County Board of Assessors; fills in as a substitute bus driver at Towns County Schools; runs Mountain Scene Farms, his award-winning ancestral homestead; and more.

“My whole goal is to look back one day and go, ‘I’ve made a difference somewhere,’” Riley said. “I want to make a difference in the world and make my grandfather proud. We’ve got to give back – we can’t just take, take, take.”