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Feature Story from 2013

Rep. Scott Bounds, from left, Jerry Belant and Bruce Leopold of the Mississippi State University Center for Human-Wildlife Conflicts, and Sen. Giles Ward took part in the Mississippi Legislative Wild Hog Summit on Sept. 9, 2013, in Jackson, Miss. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
September 13, 2013 - Filed Under: Environment, Nuisance Wildlife and Damage Management

JACKSON – Mississippi legislators attended a special meeting on Sept. 9 to learn about the “greatest emerging wildlife challenge of the 21st century.”

September 13, 2013 - Filed Under: About Extension, Technology

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University Extension Service is expanding its presence through an increased use of social media to provide information to the public.

Extension offices are already physically located in all 82 counties in the state, but residents of Mississippi and beyond can also follow Extension news and activities through a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.

Claude Jones of Brandon sells canned and baked goods at the Mississippi Farmers Market in Jackson made in his home-based business, Old Fashioned Taste. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Scott Corey)
September 13, 2013 - Filed Under: Community, Food

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Now that dozens of jars of jams, jellies, pickles and vegetables gleam on his booth’s shelves, it is hard to believe that eight years ago, Claude Jones refused to sell his wares at the Mississippi Farmer’s Market.

“I had come to the market to purchase some items, and I carried a bag of my peanut brittle with me,” Jones said. “I was always handing it out to folks. I never intended to sell it. But I gave a bag to the market director, and a couple weeks later, he called me.”

September 16, 2013 - Filed Under: 4-H Shooting Sports, Environment, Wildlife

By Mary Grace Eppes
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Many Mississippi bow hunters eagerly await the first hunt of the season and each year, more of those hunters are women.

Katie Pepper of Canton, a former Mississippi State University student and an ardent hunter, is proof that bow hunting is no longer just a male sport.

Event cancelled due to threat of inclement weather.
September 16, 2013 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden, Landscape Architecture

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Bulldog fans in town early for the Sept. 21 game can spend the morning getting ideas for their home landscapes at a tour and open house at Mississippi State University’s new trial gardens.

Visitors to the gardens can enjoy 15 minute mini-workshops at six different stations split between the new trial gardens and the existing Veterans Memorial Rose Garden. Hay wagons will transport visitors between the two locations.

Educational topics include summer bedding plants, growing hardy hibiscus plants, soil sampling, rose planting density and more.

Abbott Myers starts working on his 7,138 acre farm at sunrise each day and often works after sunset. He was named Mississippi's winner of the 2013 Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Scott Corey)
September 17, 2013 - Filed Under: Farming

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Office of Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- After farming for 42 years, Abbott Myers of Dundee, Miss., has been named the Mississippi winner of the 2013 Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. The award is sponsored by Swisher International and the Sunbelt Expo.

Myers said earning the title of Mississippi’s farmer of the year is exciting after so many years of farming, and he sees the award as an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of agriculture.

September 17, 2013 - Filed Under: Agricultural Economics

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A recent graduate of Mississippi State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics has received a national award for his master’s thesis.

Francis Annan, a native of Ghana, earned the outstanding master’s thesis award at the 2013 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association meeting in Washington, D.C. in August. In February, his thesis earned top honors at the 2013 Southern Agricultural Economics Association meeting in Orlando, Fla.

September 17, 2013 - Filed Under: Family Financial Management

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Anyone who teaches financial education in the classroom, community or home school setting is invited to attend a free, one-day workshop offered by the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

September 19, 2013 - Filed Under: Community

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The threat of inclement weather forced organizers to cancel a game-day tour of new trial gardens at Mississippi State University.

Bulldog fans had been invited to town early for the Sept. 21 football game to get ideas for their home landscapes at an open house and tour of the trial gardens and Veterans Memorial Rose Garden.

The morning event at the R. R. Foil Plant Research Center, was sponsored by the MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

September 19, 2013 - Filed Under: 4-H

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Since the 4-H goal of making the best better applies not only to young people but also to the volunteer leaders who oversee local clubs, ongoing training is key to staying prepared.

A group of 23 volunteer leaders from Mississippi will join about 200 others at the annual Southern 4-H Volunteer Conference at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Ga. This year’s theme, “4-H: Framing our Future, Building our Best,” is being coordinated by hosting states Georgia, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Scott Edwards, a private lands wildlife biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, talks about how herbicides and controlled burns can benefit a pine stand on a demonstration farm near Aberdeen, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
September 19, 2013 - Filed Under: Environment, Natural Resources, Wildlife

ABERDEEN – Landowners are learning they do not have to decide between managing for wildlife or managing for timber production.

Responding to frequently asked questions, Randall Nevins of the Mississippi State University Extension Service in Monroe County organized a multicounty forest and wildlife tour on a farm just north of Aberdeen on Sept. 12.

Scott Willard
September 20, 2013 - Filed Under: Community

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A Mississippi State University professor and administrator is the new associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Scott Willard, head of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, will assume the position of associate dean on Oct. 1.

Willard has been at MSU since 1999, first as a professor of reproductive and environmental physiology in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences before taking the helm in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2007.

Wes Lowe, Mississippi State University research team member, demonstrated the undercutter prototype during the Aug. 22 sweet potato field day at MSU's Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station. The undercutter is built from off-the-shelf components and is the focus of research aimed at reducing skinning injury to sweet potatoes and speeding up harvest. (Photo courtesy of MSU Ag and Bio Engineering/Jason Ward)
September 20, 2013 - Filed Under: Sweet Potatoes, Technology

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A machine designed by a group of Mississippi State University researchers could help sweet potato farmers reduce skinning injury to potatoes and speed up harvest.

The undercutter prototype, made from off-the-shelf components, shows early potential to help lower harvest and post-harvest losses caused by skinning, said Jason Ward, assistant Extension professor in MSU’s Agriculture and Biological Engineering Department. Problems stemming from skin abrasions that happen during digging and handling account for 20 to 25 percent of storage losses, he said.

September 20, 2013 - Filed Under: About Extension

STONEVILLE -- Mississippi State University’s largest agricultural research center will get a new leader Nov. 16.

Jeff Johnson, whose research interests include water policy, farm management and natural resources management, will be the head of the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

September 24, 2013 - Filed Under: Environment, Wildlife, White-Tailed Deer

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- As hunters gear up for the Oct. 1 opening day of the state’s white-tailed deer archery season, scientists at Mississippi State University are announcing a new tool to help manage Mississippi’s most popular game animal.

MSU’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center recently launched the MSU Deer Lab website, http://www.msudeer.com. The site is based on four decades of research conducted by researchers in the university’s deer ecology and management laboratory.

September 24, 2013 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

CRYSTAL SPRINGS – Garden and landscape enthusiasts will flock to the Fall Flower and Garden Fest on Oct. 18 and 19 at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs for plant and health recommendations.

The annual Nestle Purina Human-Animal Bond week at Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine includes an art contest open to students in first through fifth grades. Children should submit an original print, drawing or painting by Oct. 11 that depicts the theme "Arctic Adventure." (Submitted Photo)
September 24, 2013 - Filed Under: Animal Health, Community, Pets

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine invites children to use their creative talents in an art contest that celebrates the connection between humans and animals.

As part of the Human-Animal Bond Lecture Series, sponsored by Nestle Purina, the veterinary college encourages children in first through fifth grades to submit an original print, drawing or painting that fits within the theme “Arctic Adventure.” The artwork should be no larger than 11 inches by 14 inches.

Clyde Brown, an agricultural technician with Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, stands on a fire lane to monitor a prescribed fire on a cut-over in Oktibbeha County. After the site was clear cut and an aerial application of herbicide was applied, it was burned and replanted in pines. (Photo by MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center)
September 25, 2013 - Filed Under: Environment, Timber Harvest

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Landowners interested in maximizing the value of their investment need to plan for proper site preparation when replanting trees after harvesting timber.

John Kushla, a forestry specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and MSU’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center, said this preparation involves manipulating the site to increase the survival and growth of seedlings. Proper site preparation also makes tree planting or seeding more efficient.

September 25, 2013 - Filed Under: Agri-tourism, Rural Development, Natural Resources

BELZONI -- Landowners who want to branch out and earn extra income can attend a Natural Resource Enterprises Business Workshop on Oct.16.

Hosted by Mississippi State University, the workshop offers attendees the opportunity to learn different ways to make more money from their land. Topics include recreational businesses, marketing, cost-share programs, liability reduction and wildlife management.

September 25, 2013 - Filed Under: Community, Flower Gardens

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University will host two major horticultural activities for the public on Oct. 4.

Scott Kitayama, president of Greenleaf Wholesale Florist, will explain where retail flowers come from during a 3 p.m. seminar in the greenhouse classroom behind Dorman Hall. Then at 4 p.m., he will offer his vision for the future of the floral industry.

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