Feature Story from 2013

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Master Gardeners know one of the basic principles that university students around the country are discovering: Education is about more than books.

Mississippi’s horticultural educators and volunteers recently returned to campus for the Master Gardener University, hosted by the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Like many college students, Master Gardeners take part in a variety of community service projects. The educational volunteers shared these projects along with their accumulated knowledge at the conference.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A partnership with Prestage Farms Inc. is allowing Mississippi State University to improve its swine research facility as university scientists prepare to resume swine-related studies.

John Blanton, head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at MSU, said there is a need in the Southeast for science-based information on swine production.
“We are addressing that need of our stakeholders through our swine research program,” Blanton said.

IMISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University has planned three upcoming events to supply forage producers with the latest and best information possible to help them with production.

TUNICA – A decade after watching her first demonstration of Pat Parelli’s natural horsemanship techniques, Katie Cagle was in the arena with her horse for some personal instruction from the world-renowned horseman.

Cagle has experienced many equine challenges throughout more than 10 years in 4-H and a lifetime around horses. When the call went out from the Parelli organization for local horses that were difficult to load into a trailer, Cagle knew her horse, Popeye, was the perfect challenge.

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Fourteen members of the Mississippi State University Dairy Science Club, none of whom had shown dairy cattle before, proved hard work pays off when they took home several awards at the Mississippi State Fair.

MISSISSIPPI STATE --The associate director of two research centers at Mississippi State University is a new Fellow in The Wildlife Society.

Loren W. “Wes” Burger Jr., a professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, was recognized for exceptional service to the wildlife profession at the 2013 annual meeting of The Wildlife Society. Burger serves as associate director of the MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A new agricultural event targeting third-graders will take place at Mississippi State University Nov. 5-9.

FARMtastic is an educational program designed to help children learn the sources of their food, clothing and other products. They also will learn about wildlife and health issues.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Wildlife managers can get expert tips on what to plant in food plots year-round with a new app from the Mississippi State University Deer Lab.

Bronson Strickland, a wildlife management specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said he wanted to give people easy access to research-based information while in the field or in the feed store looking at seed.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A career spent in forestry in the Southeast gave Leon Cambre the opportunity to collect more than 10,000 long-horned beetle specimens that he recently donated to Mississippi State University.

Terence Schiefer, a Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researcher and curator of the Mississippi Entomological Museum, said the collection came pinned, labeled and organized by species. It is contained in three cabinets holding 36 glass-topped drawers of specimens. The insects were collected over more than 50 years and are now located at MSU.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine is hosting a free webinar on preharvest beef safety Nov. 20.

The webinar, “Beef Safety: Are You Giving Good Advice?,” will be broadcast from 2-4 p.m. Seating for 95 participants will be available in the Tait Butler Auditorium at the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine for those who want to attend in person.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two Mississippi State University administrators have been accepted into a two-year leadership development program that will connect them with food systems peers and industry professionals.

Peter Ryan, MSU associate provost, and Michael Newman, professor and director of the MSU School of Human Sciences, will join the national Food Systems Leadership Institute’s fall 2013 class.

ROLLING FORK -- Emily Reid Carter is living her dreams and reliving the memories of Helen Johnstone Harris, a Delta woman who died in 1917.

A 1986 educational psychology graduate of Mississippi State University, Carter initially considered a move to Nashville to pursue a music career. As a student at MSU, she was active in the Baptist Student Union and sang in the Fishermen, one of the BSU’s performance groups. She also competed in the Miss MSU pageant using vocals as her talent.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two groups known for their dedication to others met recently to talk about healthy living and community service.

Students from the Mississippi State University G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Center for American Veterans joined the Controllers Generation II 4-H Club in Oktibbeha County for a tribute to the U.S. Armed Forces and a celebration of healthy living.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Preparing for the production sale of horses from the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station has required part old-fashioned hard work and part new-fangled technology.

This year, instead of broadcasting a live auction event, the Mississippi State University Extension Service’s Center for Technology Outreach has created a website for an online auction that will run Nov. 1-21.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A statewide survey that Mississippi State University began this summer will continue next year as researchers look for a particular fungal disease that is developing resistance to chemical control.

In 2012, soybean fields in two Mississippi counties were found to have frogeye leaf spot fungi resistant to strobilurins, the class of fungicides commonly used for late-season disease management in soybeans.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University forestry professor was recently named a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters.

Emily Schultz was honored by the professional forestry organization for her contributions to the society and the forestry profession. Schultz is a professor in the MSU College of Forest Resources and Forest and Wildlife Research Center. Her areas of research include computer forest modeling, forest inventory, and hardwood growth and yield.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Slow cooker season is here, when cool weather and longer nights make coming home to a ready-made meal the perfect end to a busy day.

Using a slow cooker has many advantages, especially during the busy holiday season, said Natasha Haynes, a Mississippi State University Extension Service agent in Rankin County.

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Office of Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A group of Mississippi State University students made a new music trail in Starkville more beautiful by improving its landscape.

MSU landscape architecture and landscape contracting and management students installed plants as part of a service-learning collaboration with the Pilot Club of Starkville’s Music Trail in McKee Park. The plants contribute to the aesthetic value of the trail and enhance the nature experience for park-goers.

GOODMAN – Growers can get tips on preparing for spring planting during a Nov. 22 field day at the Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production Demonstration Farm in Goodman.

Experts from the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will discuss crop nutrient management, fall cover crops, soil testing, crop rotation, and pest, disease and weed control.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Richard M. Kaminski, a longtime Mississippi State University professor, is being recognized for his contributions and service to wildlife science and conservation.

Kaminski, a professor in the MSU Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, received the 2013 Clarence W. Watson Award at the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ meeting in Oklahoma City in October.