Development Direction

Celebrating Service

Aum’s endowment recognizes outstanding Extension agents

Story by Leah Barbour • Photos by Kevin Hudson

For J. W. “Bill” McKie (pronounced Mackey), working for the Mississippi State University Extension Service was more than just a job—solving agricultural problems for Mississippians was McKie’s calling.

He graduated from MSU in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry and joined Extension in 1956 as an assistant county agent in Amite County. McKie would talk to anyone facing an agricultural challenge, and he was glad to visit producers’ operations to see the problems for himself. McKie’s work ethic, service, and dedication impressed his son, John W. McKie.

“The phone in our house rang all the time. We were very small children, but we had to learn how to answer the phone and take messages,” John recalls. “You’d spell the man’s name right, and you’d get the phone number. My father always kept paper and pen beside the phone.

“He talked to everybody, was willing to talk to anybody. He liked the interaction, and he liked seeing the problem solved.”

During the decade the elder McKie completed his master’s in agronomy from MSU in 1967, soybeans were a new crop to Mississippi farmers. He was excited to share the advantages of growing the crop and the best ways to do it, and McKie was named Extension’s soybean specialist in 1962.

“Soybeans were different, and my father became the apostle and spread the word of soybean all over,” John explains. “He was always writing articles, talking to people, and driving to meetings across the state.”

The elder McKie even wrote a book, the first practical guide to growing soybeans, The Soybean Book, co-authored with Kelton Anderson. McKie retired in 1986 as area agronomy specialist serving the southern part of the state.

“He was the boots on the ground, standing out there in the field and looking at the problem. He always wanted the problem solved,” John emphasizes. “I wanted to recognize and celebrate the agents out there doing the big work, the face-to-face work, the work on the phone, the work through technology.”

Human interaction is at the center of Extension assistance and programming, John says.

“Even with all the videos and publications out there online, there’s still an information gap, and there’s a person in your local county office who can fill that gap,” he says. “Extension jobs are very important—they impact a lot of lives. Extension team members are ingrained in the fabric of their communities.”

John began an endowment with MSU, the Bill McKie Outstanding Agent Award, in 2022 to recognize county Extension agents who, like his father, deliver on the mission of helping farmers find solutions.

“My father was true to himself and the work he did, and I want to celebrate the people on a similar journey doing the work today,” John emphasizes. “Let’s give some needed recognition to the people in the field, serving and solving problems.”