Feature Story

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi dairy farmers have a new specialist to advise them on best management practices and solutions to problems.

Amanda Stone began work on Aug. 16 with the Mississippi State University Extension Service as assistant Extension professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences.

CLEVELAND, Miss. -- Business-minded Mississippians who realize that tourism is a lucrative enterprise that reaches far beyond the state’s beaches will have an opportunity for training and funding in October.

Leveraging Cultural Tourism for Community Development is a two-day workshop planned for Oct. 13-14 in Cleveland, Mississippi. It will teach anyone interested and involved in tourism how to design tours, create weekend getaways and capitalize on current tourism trends and resources available in the Mississippi Delta.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Thor was an aging but happy English mastiff living in Louisville with Vanessa Beeson, her husband Ray and son Avett, 4. When this once 200-pound dog’s health declined, he dropped to 135 pounds.

“Around May 2014, we noticed that Thor started to be a little less competent on his back legs,” Beeson said. “He started a slow decline with hip dysplasia, a torn ACL and other problems, and he began to lose his mobility and function.”

CADARETTA, Miss. -- A 325-acre farm in northwest Webster County has never been owned by anyone but a Pittman.

Fran Pittman has designs on keeping it that way.

She and her husband, Alfred Pittman, have operated Pittman Farms -- part of which includes the land they refer to as “The Old Home Place” -- since they married in 1974.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- After nearly 3 feet of rain in two days caused historic flooding and widespread damage in Louisiana and southwest Mississippi earlier this month, volunteers from Mississippi State University are assisting in relief efforts.

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A national and international expert on agricultural risk management and crop insurance has been named head of Mississippi State’s Department of Agricultural Economics.

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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The same principle that cools down kids running through a lawn sprinkler on a hot summer day is being tested on chickens in Mississippi State University’s commercial poultry houses.

Tom Tabler, Extension poultry specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said keeping chickens cool in the summer is a life-or-death matter. Mississippi summer temperatures often exceed 90 degrees with humidity above 80 percent.

STARKVILLE, Miss – A new partnership between Mississippi State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s APHIS Wildlife Services program has made the university home to a national training academy.

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PICAYUNE, Miss. -- Families and school groups can have fun while learning about insects and their habitats at the annual Crosby Arboretum Bugfest Sept. 16 and 17 in Picayune.

The hands-on event, held at the Mississippi State University Crosby Arboretum, encourages children, teachers and parents to get curious about the world of entomology.

Attendees can participate in insect-themed games, educational presentations, arts and crafts, and collection and identification opportunities. A staffed mounting station will be available throughout the event.

POPLARVILLE, Miss. -- South Mississippi homeowners with private wells will have two opportunities next month to learn how to protect the quality of their drinking water sources.

Private well owners can get their water tested for bacteria and attend a workshop in Pearl River County to learn how to better manage, operate and protect their wells.

The Mississippi Well Owner Network, a program of the Mississippi State University Extension Service, will be held 6-9 p.m. Sept. 29 at the MSU Extension office at 417 Highway 11 North in Poplarville.

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi-grown foliage, flowers and value-added floral products will be the focus of creative demonstrations at Mississippi State University on Sept. 15.

The free demonstrations will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Bost Extension Center. Described as a “flower, farmer, florist spectacular,” the event is open to people of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in growing, selling and designing natural arrangements.

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- More than 100 members of the U.S. military launched a health campaign, but local boots on the ground will work to keep it moving forward.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service and numerous other agencies provided local support for the 13-day wellness event at the Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College campuses in Natchez.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Food safety professionals who work for meat, poultry and other food processors can earn certification mandated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service during an upcoming workshop.

Experts with the USDA, Mississippi State University Extension Service, and MSU Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion will teach participants how to comply with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, or HACCP, regulations.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University Extension Service entomologists and others are scouring the state for the mosquito species that carry the Zika virus.

By Michaela Parker
MSU Extension Service

STARKVILLE, MISS. -- Toddlers who like to bite are a common source of concern for parents, but moms and dads can help their children manage this behavior.

Biting is a normal developmental step that begins when a child starts teething, said Karen Benson, Neshoba County coordinator for the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

PONTOTOC, Miss. -- Mississippi State University faculty and specialists will update producers at a field day in Pontotoc Aug. 24 on recent sweet potato research.

Sweet potato producers, researchers, agriculture industry representatives and crop consultants can view research plots and variety trials at the MSU-Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station during the program.

Personnel with the MSU Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will present information on weed management, crop fertility and sweet potato varieties.

DURANT, Miss. -- Early child care educators, families and other residents in the Durant area now have a new place to visit and borrow educational books, toys and games.

On Aug. 2, the North Central Mississippi Resource and Referral Center celebrated its grand opening, becoming the 18th center of its kind in the state.

BILOXI, Miss. -- Mississippians interested in working with the state’s natural resources can get in-depth education and certification through an eight-week course.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium will host the Coastal Mississippi Master Naturalist Program from Sept. 2 to Oct. 21.

Participants will meet once a week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to learn basic principles of natural resource ecology and management through classroom instruction, field activities and team exercises.

BILOXI, Miss. -- A Mississippi State University Extension Service employee recently received a national award for his significant contribution to the floral industry.

Jim DelPrince, an Extension floral design specialist, accepted the American Institute of Floral Designers Award of Distinguished Service to the Floral Industry during the organization’s annual National Symposium in July.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion in the Mississippi State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences places an emphasis on outreach that is shown through more than a dozen programs offered in conjunction with the MSU Extension Service.