Feature Story

By Chance McDavid

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A group chartered by the U.S. Congress is encouraging Mississippians to respond to interim health-care recommendations during upcoming forums in Jackson, Hattiesburg and Greenville.

Congress set up the Citizens' Health Care Working Group to engage the public in a national discussion of options to improve the national health-care system.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Asian soybean rust has made its first 2006 appearance in Mississippi soybean fields, but it's probably arrived too late to have much, if any, impact on the crop.

Rust was found in south Mississippi on Aug. 1, said Mississippi State University Extension Service soybean specialist Alan Blaine.

By Keryn B. Page

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Dry summer weather may make some people think they don't need to worry about mosquito-borne diseases, but experts say to keep up the defenses against West Nile virus.

Entomologist Blake Layton with the Mississippi State University Extension Service said the Southern house mosquito is the main carrier of West Nile virus. He said this mosquito breeds in stagnant water and containers and doesn't require much water to quickly increase in number.

BILOXI -- Milh Lu sat on the deck of his boat in Biloxi's back bay amid a pile of mostly-spoiled shrimp. Both Lu and his catch were victims of one of the many problems facing Gulf Coast shrimp fishermen this year.

“Not enough ice,” Lu said. “I did not have enough ice to keep part of the catch fresh enough to sell.”

Lu operates an “ice boat,” a ship that can spend several days harvesting shrimp while keeping its catch fresh in ice-filled compartments below the deck. The shrimp are sold to processing plants.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Garden crops in Hurricane Katrina storm surge areas should be safe for consumption if washed properly.

Larry Oldham, soils specialist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service, said Gulf Coast Extension Service offices are getting calls about the safety of vegetables following reports of high arsenic levels in the Katrina-affected area.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Country music legend Willie Nelson and biological engineer San Fernando have a lot in common.

The common link between the singer and the Mississippi State University professor is biodiesel, a fuel for diesel engines produced by blending petroleum diesel with refined vegetable oil. Nelson is promoting biodiesel as an alternative to pure petroleum-based diesel and as a way to support U.S. farmers. Fernando is researching ways to make production of the fuel easier and more cost-effective.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi's sod producers are experiencing significantly higher production and transportation costs with little opportunity to pass their expenses on to consumers.

Wayne Wells, turfgrass specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said the cost of fuel impacts the cost of nitrogen fertilizer, which requires natural gas for production.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – An Aug. 7 videoconference will address the impact of the ongoing drought and cattle producers’ concerns about finding ample feed sources for the upcoming fall and winter.

The statewide distance education meeting for producers will begin at 7 p.m. Viewing sites around the state are being arranged. Contact the local Extension office for the nearest location.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Tree losses in South Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina are still rising 11 months and counting after the devastating storm made landfall.

Glenn Hughes, Mississippi State University Extension Service forestry specialist in Lamar County, said the extent of the damage is still being assessed and more trees continue dying from affects of the storm.

By Keryn B. Page
Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- On June 23, it had been 7 long months since Navlean Pittman had seen her son, and she felt like hugging the television.

Pittman was one of the first two Mississippians to take part in a Freedom Call, which connects soldiers serving in Iraq to their families back home through videoconferencing technology. Interactive videoconferencing allows people in different locations to see and talk to each other over a television in real time, just as though they were face to face.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi farmers are in the same boat as most cattle producers across the country, and there is no water around any of them.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Landowners searching for ways to increase their income may need to look no further than their backyard. That is what Wade Henson of Montgomery County did. 

Henson developed a successful fee-hunting business on his family's farm near Kilmichael. He started Cypress Lodge Outfitters on a shoestring budget in 1994, offering just a few hunts a year.

“Now we stay booked most of the year,” Henson said. “We offer white-tailed deer, turkey and waterfowl hunts to Mississippians and visitors from around the world.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Consumers may not be able to control the price of gasoline, but they can adjust their driving techniques and maintain vehicles for peak performance.

Herb Willcutt, an agricultural engineering professor with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said good maintenance and proper care of the tires are keys to good gas mileage.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi's farm-raised catfish farmers have had their best hatchery season in 30 years and are seeing their best market prices since 1995.

Jim Steeby, aquaculture specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said the warm temperatures in April were ideal for the final maturing period.

“Fish started spawning by mid-April and were nearly finished by the first week in June, which is about three weeks early,” Steeby said. “Farmers were able to stock fry ponds earlier and have the entire summer for the fish to grow.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Many college freshmen enjoying their first taste of real freedom find themselves caught up in some habits they will struggle to overcome later.

The social opportunities of college combined with freedom from parental limits make being a freshman an exciting time. While some young adults handle the transition well, others living alone for the first time start eating poorly, do not get enough rest, and drink or smoke for the first time or to excess.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Students expand their skills and knowledge of the Internet every year, so parents need to increase their efforts to monitor their children's activity and help them use this technology in a safe manner.

Ted Gordon, a Mississippi State University Extension Service safety specialist at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona, said parents should not only establish Internet rules, they should monitor its use.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Schools are making sure children have healthy food options during the day, and parents should do their part to see that healthy eating continues at home.

The U.S. Department of Education, as part of the Child Nutrition Act, is requiring all schools this year to adopt a wellness policy, and is encouraging all schools to offer only healthy foods and drinks off serving lines and in vending machines. To continue the day's healthy diet, parents are being encouraged to stock healthy snack and supper options at home.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Dry weather statewide since mid-May has stressed Mississippi's corn crop and is expected to push yields well below recent levels.

“The thing that really broke farmers' backs this year is it's been a lot drier than normal,” said Erick Larson, small grains specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “We got into a summer weather pattern in mid-May where all we saw was scattered showers, and we usually don't get into that type of weather until after the Fourth of July.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Most people looking at the new U.S. Department of Agriculture horticulture laboratory in Poplarville see brick, concrete, glass and steel. Jim Spiers sees something else -- cooperation.

Spiers is the USDA-Agricultural Research Service research leader at the facility, which was dedicated in May as the Thad Cochran Southern Horticultural Laboratory in honor of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- They are an unlikely pair -- a man with a career dedicated to discipline and a pup whose first months of life were spent running with a pack of strays. How the man and the dog came together also involved unlikely circumstances.