Feature Story

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Each year some 300,000 Mississippi hunters take to the woods in search of white-tailed deer. Before opening day, landowners and hunters spend hours preparing their properties and equipment for the hunting season.

A workshop sponsored by Mississippi State University’s Extension Service and Forest and Wildlife Research Center, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is giving landowners an opportunity to become better prepared for this fall activity.

STONEVILLE -- Mississippi State University researchers and Extension Service specialists will explain at a July 16 event in Stoneville current studies that could help farmers of agronomic crops.

MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center will host the annual Agronomic Field Day. Registration begins at 8 a.m., and the program starts 30 minutes later.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Youth of all ages can spend a day at Tougaloo College on June 18 learning about sustainable agriculture through a variety of hands-on activities.

Admission is free to the Youth Sustainable Ag Day at the Tougaloo-Rainbow Garden. The event is sponsored by the Mississippi State University Extension Service, Hinds County 4-H, Tougaloo College and the Alcorn Cooperative Extension Program.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Educators who pioneered the 4-H movement recognized the importance of using hands-on activities and mental exploration to encourage youth to open themselves to new ideas and experiences.

While that basic premise of serving youth by helping them develop life skills remains important, many 4-H projects are clearly different from those of a hundred years ago. Today’s 4-H’ers can explore their world through numerous projects involving science, engineering and technology.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Tom Wilburn’s memories of growing up on an east Mississippi plantation, attending Mississippi State College and plunging headlong into the harness racing industry are the types of tales Jeannine Smith is eager to record.

United by a common passion for local history, these two graduates of Mississippi State University spent a lifetime together in two years. Smith, who received her master’s degree from MSU in industrial technology in 1995 and a doctorate in education in 2001, began researching for a book on Artesia, her adopted hometown, in 2005.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A sudden outbreak of tiny buffalo gnats has created a costly nuisance in many Mississippi livestock operations, wildlife areas and backyard poultry flocks this spring.

The gnats are members of the blood-sucking insect family Simuliidae. While entomologists describe them as black flies, these insects may be gray, tan or greenish in color. They feed on the blood of humans and animals.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University will hold two camps this summer to teach kids and teens that there can never be too many cooks in the kitchen.

MSU’s Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion is offering “Fun with Food” camp for third- through sixth-grade students and “Culinology for Teens” camp for ninth- through 12th-grade students. Both camps will provide participants hands-on food discovery experiences.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Soybean rust is active on kudzu in Alabama and Louisiana, but the disease has not made it to Mississippi, although rains are creating ideal conditions for its development.

Tom Allen, a plant pathologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, helps monitor for this disease.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University’s Central Research and Extension Center is offering the annual twilight tour of its 175 acres of research plots to conventional and organic fruit and vegetable growers on June 16.

The free event begins with registration at 5:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Agricultural Research and Experiment Station’s Crystal Springs Truck Crops Station. At 5:45 p.m., growers will be taken on a wagon tour of the research plots.

HATTIESBURG – All children, families and educators are provided an opportunity for education and access to learning materials at the Mississippi State University’s Resource and Referral Agency in Petal.

The referral agency is part of the Mississippi Child Care Resource and Referral Network, offered by MSU’s Extension Service. There are 12 referral agency sites, including the one in Petal, which serves Lamar, Jones, Wayne, Covington, Forrest, George, Greene, Stone, Pearl River and Perry counties.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – It took less than 24 hours for Hurricane Katrina to destroy nearly 1.3 million trees in south Mississippi landscapes, and those trying to replant are hoping to restore the tree-filled skyline as quickly as possible.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

TUPELO -- Mississippi 4-H Council President Chelsi Smith is a modern young woman who uses computers, PDAs and texting to reach members, yet relies on traditional 4-H values to make these tools effective.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – 4-H’ers have always worn green to State Club Congress, but this year they will be “going green” at the annual event May 27-29 at Mississippi State University.

This year’s theme is “100 percent green…for our club, community, country and world.” Organizers chose this message to reflect the 4-H ethic of putting ideas into action.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University Extension Service employee with 22 years of experience in county-level programming for agricultural and natural resources, 4-H, consumer education and community development is the new statewide dairy specialist.

Lamar Adams, who was Extension director in Walthall County, began his new job May 1. Adams will develop educational programs for dairy producers throughout the state as a faculty member in MSU’s Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A team of Canadian researchers cataloging the genetic makeup of all living species into an easily accessible system have identified the Mississippi Entomological Museum as a treasure trove after setting up camp at Mississippi State University for a week.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two days in June are dedicated to educating those in the dairy industry about key issues in a time when producers are struggling to maintain profitability.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Aquatic researchers at Mississippi State University study the natural mechanisms at work in lake ecosystems so they can find better ways to manage habitats, but large bodies of water do not always make good laboratories.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Some scientists researching invasive water plants look at the direct effects of these plants and others assess different control methods.

Mississippi State University graduate student Erica Schlickeisen wanted to know about the indirect and sometimes unanticipated effects invasive plants have on water quality and microbial activity.

By Karen Templeton
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – What was once a Depression-era strawberry farm now provides protection to some of the Southeast’s most diverse but disappearing habitats.

The Crosby Arboretum, located in Picayune, was established in 1980 as a living memorial to timber pioneer and philanthropist L.O. Crosby Jr. It is part of Mississippi State University’s Coastal Research and Extension Center and provides protection to the native plant species of the Pearl River Drainage Basin of south-central Mississippi and Louisiana.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Wild hogs make pigs of themselves when rooting through crops and young forests, leaving behind a wide swath of damage and economic loss.

Producers and wildlife managers who deal with this problem can get help by attending a wild hog workshop sponsored by the Mississippi State University Extension Service; the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks; and the Mississippi USDA Wildlife Service.