Feature Story

GRENADA -- Two sisters in Grenada County’s 4-H program placed in the top three in a national video contest.

Isabella Kinder, 15, won second place in her age division and $300 in the “Do the Ride Thing” video contest for all-terrain vehicles and dirt bike safety. Katrina Kinder, 18, won third place in her age division and $200. Contest sponsors included the ATV Safety Institute, the Right Rider Access Fund and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Dirt Bike School.

VERONA -- Forage and livestock producers can learn about the latest research and production methods at the annual Mississippi Forage and Grassland Conference.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service will co-sponsor the event on Nov. 14 at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center, located at 5421 Highway 145 South in Verona.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Dr. Andy Shores hopes to help veterinarians make better patient recommendations with a smartphone application.

Shores, chief of neurosurgery and neurology at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, developed the Small Animal Coma Scale app to give veterinarians an easier way to assess the severity of a traumatic brain injury in dogs and cats while capturing statistical data.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University’s foundation seed program, a unit of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, has provided seed to Mississippi seed distributors and growers for 55 years.

Brad Burgess, MSU director of research support for variety testing and foundation seed, oversees the program. Major crops include sweet sorghum, soybean and rice. MSU also produces foundation sweet potato slips and some minor crops as well.

RAYMOND -- Members of the produce industry have two opportunities to evaluate and comment on revisions to proposed changes to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration food safety law.

Experts with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will help participants understand the revisions to the Food Safety Modernization Act during two separate workshops.

The act introduces new rules to help prevent contamination of fresh fruits and vegetables during growing, harvesting, packing and holding.

TUNICA -- The nation’s farmers and agricultural landowners have some important decisions to make in the next six months.

Krysta Harden, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, met with farmers and others at the Tunica Museum on Sept. 29 to answer questions about programs available in the new farm bill.

While the delay in passage of the farm bill created some deadline challenges, Harden said USDA is working with the Extension Service in each state to help farmers and landowners understand the process, which is managed through the Farm Service Agency.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi’s oldest agricultural television news show begins its 38th season Oct. 3 on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Farmweek, produced by the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the MSU Office of Agricultural Communications, airs weekly on Mississippi Public Broadcasting and RFD-TV.

Artis Ford, Farmweek’s managing editor and reporter for almost 30 years, said Friday’s show will mark the 1,880th airing. Viewers also will notice a few changes this season as a result of a viewership survey conducted in 2014.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Wood is a major part of Americans’ daily lives. In fact, wood consumption in the U.S. is five and a half pounds per person per day. This is just one of the fascinating facts fourth graders will discover about wood when they visit Mississippi State University’s Wood Magic Science Fair.

MSU will host about 4,000 children, teachers and visitors Oct. 6 through 10. They will learn about forestry, sustainable bioproducts and wildlife.

PRAIRIE -- Beef and forage producers will receive current recommendations on a variety of topics influencing production success at a field day on Oct. 25.

The 2014 Fall Beef Cattle and Forage Field Day will begin at 9 a.m on that Saturday at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station’s Prairie Research Unit in Monroe County. A sponsored lunch will conclude the event.

MAFES researchers and Mississippi State University Extension Service agents and specialists will provide information on nutrition, marketing and other issues related to beef production.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- One week each October packs a double thrill for Mississippi 4-H’ers.

National 4-H Week, held Oct. 5-11, overlaps with the Mississippi State Fair, which runs from Oct. 1-12.

This year, 4-H’ers will promote both the state and national events through social media. The theme for the 2014 National 4-H Week is #iam4H.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- In Mississippi, more than 200,000 deer are harvested each year, providing families with a source of free-range meat. However, hunters must exercise care when processing deer to ensure good-tasting, high quality, safe meat products.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A Mississippi State University Extension Service youth initiative and its coordinator earned national honors this month for efforts to prepare communities for disasters.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- This week marks National Farm Safety and Health Week and it is the perfect time to recognize the dangers of harvest equipment on the highways.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 70 percent of traffic fatalities in Mississippi occur on rural roads. In addition to being more common, crashes on rural roads tend to be more severe and are more likely to result in death. Farm equipment can be a hazard rural roads any time of year, but harvest time means increased traffic.

STONEVILLE -- The thousands of dollars farmers invest in equipment, seed and labor to produce row crops, such as soybeans, cotton and corn, is wasted if they do not have quality soil.

“Everything ties back to how well the soil is maintained,” said Bobby Golden, an agronomist and researcher with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station at Stoneville. “If we didn’t have a strong, stable foundation, which is the soil, the crop yields we produce wouldn’t exist.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Anticipating the return of manufacturing to the U.S., Mississippi State University’s Franklin Furniture Institute is hosting the Mississippi Reshoring Summit on Sept. 24.

Higher labor costs in China and technological advances that aid in U.S. production are partly responsible for increasing domestic manufacturing. The summit will help attendees answer the question for their industries, “Is it time to reshore?”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A Mississippi State University graduate student is using a centuries-old teaching method to plant the seeds of success in would-be gardeners.

Kandiace Gray of Fulton is working on her master’s degree in horticulture. She has created a hands-on workshop series designed to share the how-to side of the pretty pictures found on Pinterest gardening boards.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Some travelers may be afraid of lions, tigers and bears, but the real health threats come from mosquitoes, ticks and fleas.

David Buys, health specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said people traveling outside the United States should consult doctors, local health departments, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for disease risks and recommendations.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University is bringing three influential designers to campus in October to give professional and hobby gardeners new ideas about landscape design.

The 59th Edward C. Martin Landscape Design Symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 15 at the MSU Bost Extension Center Auditorium. Bob Brzuszek, Extension professor of landscape architecture, is the symposium program chair.

Speakers this year are Eric Groft, John Mayronne and Sadik Artunc.

JACKSON -- More than 130 students, teachers and community members combed the grounds of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson on Sept. 13 during the state’s first BioBlitz.

Scientists from the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the museum led participants through the facility’s trails during the 13-hour event to inventory insects, spiders, birds, aquatic animals, mammals, trees and mushrooms.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The newest technology and machinery used to advance the South’s timber industry will be demonstrated Sept. 19-20 at the Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show.

The event will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Held at the John W. Starr Memorial Forest off of Highway 25 south of Starkville, the show is sponsored by Mississippi State University’s College of Forest Resources, Hatton-Brown Publishers Inc., the Mississippi Loggers Association and the Mississippi Forestry Association.