News

MISSISSIPPI STATE –Mississippi State University’s horticulture club will inspire garden enthusiasts with a wide variety of plants at its annual spring plant sale.

This year’s sale will take place Friday, April 5 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 6 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside the campus greenhouses behind Dorman Hall on MSU’s main campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Student-grown bedding plants, baskets with flowering plants, perennials, herbs and some vegetable plants will be available.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Hundreds of veterinary professionals will gather in Phoenix for the annual American Animal Hospital Association meeting, but part of the conference will originate at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

During a March 15 AAHA pediatric spay and neuter session sponsored by PetSmart Charities, Dr. Phil Bushby will demonstrate surgeries and share his surgical expertise. Bushby, the MSU-CVM Marcia Lane Endowed Chair in Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare, will operate on shelter dogs and cats to help them become more adoptable.

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Office of Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE — A Mississippi State University senior is combining unique course opportunities and farm experience to prepare for a future in agriculture.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Panola County cattleman is using native grasses in a 200-acre intensive grazing operation that is both efficient and environmentally friendly.

Durwood Gordon owns Gordon Farms, a pasture and cattle farm near Batesville. He is experiencing the kind of success that is the goal of the Research and Education to Advance Conservation and Habitat, or REACH, initiative coordinated by Mississippi State University.

According to the calendar, we are just a few days away from the official start of the spring season. But if you have been watching the garden and landscape like I have, you’ve seen signs of spring for at least several weeks. The plants are starting to wake up.

Yellow jasmine is one of the most reliable early signs of spring and is native all over the Southeast. While you’re driving along the roads and highways in Mississippi, you can see yellow jasmine showing off its vivid blooms.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Three Mississippi State University graduate students earned recognition for presentations on bottomland hardwoods at a recent meeting in the Delta.

The Bulldogs competed at the 60th Annual Southern Hardwood Forest Research Group Meeting held Feb. 21 in Stoneville with students from several universities around the region, including the University of Mississippi, the University of Arkansas and Louisiana Tech University.

STONEVILLE – Two Mississippi State University students placed in competitions at the Southern Branch of the American Society of Agronomy annual meeting February in Orlando, Fla.

MSU agronomy student Jennifer Corbin of Cleveland placed second in the graduate division for her oral presentation on crops. Corbin is a research associate in rice at MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

Joshua White of Ackerman, a doctoral student in agronomy, placed second in the graduate student crops poster contest. White managers forage variety testing at MSU.

ABERDEEN – B.J. McClenton’s appreciation of horses and livestock attracted him to a career with the Extension Service, but his desire to help people sealed the deal.

The Monroe County Extension coordinator and 4-H youth agent said the educational aspect of Extension appealed to his desire to work outside the classroom, especially with adults. That desire to help others led him to a brief job at the West Point Fire Department. He also became a certified EMT, a path that paid off in April 2011 when an F5 tornado hit Monroe County.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University graduate student in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture recently took second place in a competition at an international symposium.

Kira Newcomb won for the delivery of an oral presentation on black duck winter survival and habitat use at the sixth North American Duck Symposium and Workshop held Jan. 26-31 in Memphis, Tenn.

BILOXI -- Agricultural producers in the coastal region shared their needs and concerns during a Mississippi State University meeting Feb. 25.

The sixth annual Producer Advisory Council meeting was held at MSU’s Coastal Research and Extension Center.

RAYMOND -- Producers and industry professionals from the central district gathered Feb. 26 to share needs and ideas with agents, specialists and researchers of Mississippi State University’s Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural, Forestry and Experiment Station.

The Central District Producer Advisory Council meeting was held in conjunction with Alcorn State University’s Extension Program and Hinds Community College.

GOODMAN -- A series of monthly field days highlighting sustainable agriculture practices continues March 15 in Goodman.

Fruit, vegetable and flower growers are invited to the Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production Demonstration Farm for information on mulching, irrigation and high tunnels.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University doctoral student recently received the inaugural Future Leaders in Science Award.

Kyle Briscoe of Liberty, Mo., is one of 12 graduate students in the nation to receive the award from the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America. He is studying agronomy at MSU.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – When Dutch, a miniature dachshund, arrived at Mississippi State University’s Animal Health Center at the College of Veterinary Medicine, he was lucky to be alive.

“Most people would have put him to sleep, but I thought he had a chance,” said Dr. Robert Shamblin, Dutch’s owner and a veterinarian for over 40 years. “He wanted to live.”

Dutch was attacked by a coyote on his morning outing with Shamblin’s wife at their home outside of Tuscaloosa.

Several years ago, a new group of tropical hibiscus exploded onto the market with vibrant and exciting colors -- a Technicolor dream.

Thirty-eight fantastic selections of Cajun hibiscus, bred and released by the Dupont Nursery in Louisiana, feature colors ranging from bright yellows to pinks, reds and whites. Some of the more spectacular blossoms are those with color blends and those with bright red eyes.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University is offering a free webinar to help those in the timber business understand the changes being made this summer to lumber measurements and standards.

Southern Pine Design Values will be offered free online March 18 from 9 a.m. to noon. Registration is free, and only those registered will receive a link to the webinar. Register at http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/workshops/pine_design.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University professor has been named Wildlife Conservationist of the Year by the Mississippi Wildlife Federation.

Steve Demarais, professor of wildlife ecology and management in MSU’s Forestry and Wildlife Research Center, received the honor at the federation’s Feb. 16 meeting.

PONTOTOC – A new sweet potato specialist has joined forces with Mississippi growers as they produce and promote one of the state’s favorite vegetable crops.

Stephen Meyers, a native of northern Indiana, is working with growers whose fields are largely centered in or around Calhoun and Chickasaw counties. He earned his bachelor’s degree in horticultural production and marketing, with a minor in weed science, from Purdue University. He received master’s and doctoral degrees in weed management from North Carolina State University.