The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Carthage, Jasper County

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August 17, 2008

Jo Ellis: Extension agent following dad's footsteps

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Give him another three to four years, and Ed Browning will have followed — almost precisely — in his father’s footsteps in the field of agriculture.

In November, Ed will have completed 18 years as Jasper County program director for the Missouri University Extension Service.

Before coming to Jasper County, Ed was an extension agent in Marshall and Moberly for a total of eight years. In between, he managed and operated a farm for 10 years, and sold grain bins for five years. His father, CW Browning, retired after a 30-year career as a county extension agent, a period interspersed with an 11-year break for farming activities in central Missouri.

Ed’s responsibility when he came to Carthage was agricultural engineering. He would help farmers by drawing plans for hay barns, hog operations, ponds, cattle corrals and sometimes even a new home.

Starting with standard guidelines, he modified each plan according to the lay of the land, the size of the herd, how other farm operations would be affected and the landowner’s preferences.

He had an innate love of working with geometric shapes and enjoyed the one-on-one relationships with farmers. University Extension now trends away from one-on-one service and toward group education, Ed says.

Over time, because of emerging issues, his job description changed from agricultural engineering to natural resources engineering. “That implies water quality, safe use of pesticides, alternative energies and animal-waste management,” he says.

“One thing I would like to be doing more work on is energy alternatives. There’s quite a bit of interest now in wind and solar power. Wind is not all that feasible here because you have to have an average 13 mile per hour wind. Solar is a viable alternative for heating water, and that’s about it.”

Still, he believes alternative energy on a commercial level could save 4 to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. His research is sort of “in limbo,” he says, because one of the university professors with whom he was working died, and another, an expert in biofuel and ethanol, resigned.

As another sign of changing issues, Ed notes, “I think I spend more of my time now on horticulture.” While untrained in horticulture, he says he has learned a lot through experience, and through the Master Gardener and Master Naturalist courses offered by University Extension.

Ed’s engineering duties extend over an eight-county region: Barton, Newton, McDonald, Barry, Lawrence, Dade and Cedar in addition to Jasper. He works out of an office in the Jasper County Courthouse where he oversees two secretaries. He shares the office with four Extension colleagues: Janet LaFon, family finance and education specialist who also helps with the Master Gardener program; Ginny Hopp, human development specialist; Bob McNary, 4-H youth specialist; and Mary Ann Pennington, nutrition education specialist.

There are weeks, Ed says, when his job requires him to attend as many as four nights of meetings. He has no compensatory time off. He still finds time to spend with his wife, Glenita, and their eight grandchildren. He also dabbles in woodworking, welding, genealogy and restoring old motorcycles, one of which he has been working on for eight years.

“I’ve got too many hobbies,” Ed concedes.



Address correspondence to Jo Ellis, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802.

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