What do you do in your current role with the University of Missouri?

I’m an extension specialist with the University of Missouri’s Division of Applied Social Sciences. I’m working on a couple of grant-funded feasibility studies and a set of MU guides on the economics of including warm-season grasses in pasture systems. 

How long have you worked in this position?

I started in 1988 as an agricultural specialist.  

What is your favorite part about the work you do?

I enjoy assisting real people in rural Missouri by solving their real-world problems through solid information, often reasoning with them on how to make good decisions with imperfect information.

How are you helping MU A&E Extension reach our #2xAg2030 goal?

Private businesses seeking profit are responsible for growth. Our work with MU Extension is simply to provide information to help agricultural entrepreneurs assess those vaguely understood profit opportunities. We work best when we bring economics into interdisciplinary teams, focused on a problem or new industry. This work isn’t flashy, simple or quick, but it is satisfying when it works.

What is something your CAFNR and MU Extension teammates may not know about you?

I spent the first third of my extension career as a field specialist. Before moving to campus in 2000, I worked as an agriculture generalist in Oregon County. Later I became a farm management specialist in Ste. Genevieve County and then a dairy/farm management specialist based in Perry and Bollinger County. Working retail extension, serving whoever walks in the door of a local office, forever impacts how you view extension’s role. I wish every extension employee on campus and in administration had that opportunity at some part of their career.

Agriculture and Environment Extension is a partnership between MU Extension and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.