MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A one-day workshop for farmers, landowners and resource managers will provide the tools to start and manage a natural resource enterprise. 

The March 20 event will begin at 8 a.m. at Cato Baptist Church in southern Rankin County. Following lunch, the afternoon session will be located on and hosted by Springwater Ranch, which is 15 minutes southeast from downtown Brandon. Activities will conclude about 4 p.m.

Fee fishing, fee hunting, agritourism, sporting clays, and wildlife watching are examples of enterprises based on the natural resources commonly found on Mississippi private lands. 

Workshops participants will hear presentations in the morning about business management, marketing, types of enterprises, cost-share programs and liability issues. In the afternoon, participants will be taken into the field to view wildlife habitat management techniques on the ground, fee fishing and sporting clays enterprises, as well as other examples of enterprise opportunities.

This workshop is part of a series by the Natural Resource Enterprises Program at Mississippi State University. This program is a partnership with MSU’s Extension Service, MSU’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center, the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

MSU’s Extension Service, MAFES and the FWRC cooperatively created and implemented the Natural Resource Enterprises Program to assist private landowners in developing alternative or supplemental methods of income on their land.

The $25 registration fee is includes a reference notebook, lunch, breaks, presentations by resource professionals and a field tour with agency personnel. Early registration is recommended due to space limitations.

For more information about the workshop or to register, visit http://www.wildlifeworkshop.msstate.edu or call (662) 325-3133.

Contact: Adam Rohnke, (601) 857-2284