News

JACKSON -- Agricultural producers in central Mississippi are invited to evaluate and provide direction on educational programming and research provided by Mississippi State University.

Producers of various commodities are invited to participate in the Central Mississippi Producer Advisory Council Feb. 26 at the McKenzie Arena in Raymond. Representatives from the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and MSU’s Extension Service will discuss current issues and answer questions.

WEST POINT – Registration is under way for veterans seeking non-traditional animal-assisted activities to address physical or mental challenges as a result of military service.

International Equine Services for Heroes will be offered through the Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H Therapeutic Riding and Activity Center, which promotes educational and research-based equine activities.

RAYMOND -- Tomato growers from around the world will attend Mississippi State University’s 23rd annual national Greenhouse Tomato Short Course March 5 and 6 at the Eagle Ridge Conference Center in Raymond, Miss.

INDIANOLA -- A Feb. 7 workshop will familiarize participants with some of the resources available to assist Mississippi manufacturers who want to begin or expand export activities.

Mississippi State University’s Franklin Furniture Institute is hosting the Getting to Know Your Export Resources workshop. It is funded by the Delta Regional Authority.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Mississippi State University Extension Service has hired a new associate in response to Mississippians’ growing interest in returning to traditional methods of food preparation and preservation, sewing and home arts.

By Alicia Barnes
MSU School of Human Sciences

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Today’s agricultural careers are a long way from the chisels and plows our great-grandparents used, and much of that progress is thanks to people like agricultural engineer Filip To.

Obsessive-compulsives are not the only ones who should note that the second Monday in February is National Clean Out Your Computer Day. Cleaning a computer is a great way to speed up the computer, find files more quickly and prevent pesky viruses and spyware from taking control of the hard drive.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – An undeveloped courtyard at Mississippi State University’s landscape architecture facility provided the challenge for student teams in Design Week 2013.

The theme of the annual learning competition was Art into Nature. The teams, composed of landscape architecture and landscape contracting students and a faculty advisor, competed to design the best courtyard based on the space and needs. The challenge was to create an artistic and ecologically integrated design for the landscape architecture facilities, then present it to the judges in a compelling fashion.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Two Mississippi State University graduate students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences took home honors from the 2013 Beltwide Cotton Conferences.

Zach Reynolds of Starkville, a master’s student in agronomy, won first place in the poster competition at the Weed Science Technical Conference. He presented his research evaluating the effectiveness of pre- and post-emergence herbicides on Palmer amaranth, commonly called pigweed.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University graduate students studying applied row crop agriculture will present their research findings before industry representatives at a new contest.

The first Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition will begin at 7:55 a.m. Feb. 7 at the Bost Extension Center. The master’s competition features two groups speaking from 8 to 11:30 a.m. and one doctoral competition from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. An awards reception will follow the final presentation.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University is hosting about 500 waterfowl biologists and wetland scientists for the North American Duck Symposium and Workshop in Memphis.

The event runs Jan. 27 to 31 at the Peabody Hotel, home of the world-famous mallard ducks.

January and February are good times to see where landscapes need evergreen color to break out of the drab grays and browns of winter. When you find a spot that needs a pick-me-up, Savannah holly is a superb evergreen plant to grow in our Mississippi gardens and landscapes.

It has a natural pyramidal growth habit that is loose and open. This holly is versatile in the landscape and can be used for screening or strategically placed as single specimens.

VERONA – Mississippi State University’s North Mississippi Research and Extension Center will host its annual Producer Advisory Council meeting Feb. 21 at the Magnolia Conference Center in Verona.

This yearly meeting allows growers, producers, ranchers and other agricultural clients to meet with scientists and specialists from MSU’s Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station to share concerns, ask questions and provide feedback about research and Extension programs.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant is funding research at Mississippi State University that will help develop a process to create a clean, renewable energy source.

Researchers at MSU and Ohio State University received $6.5 million to work together on the project. They plan to develop a process to convert methane gases produced from leftover plant materials, or biomass, into cost competitive liquid fuels that more closely resemble diesel and gasoline.

JACKSON -- With a wide range of venue types, Mississippi couples can tie the knot in the setting of their dreams.

Beth Bell, child and family development area agent with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service in Tallahatchie County, said couples are choosing less traditional venues for many different reasons. Some couples anticipate more guests than can be accommodated at a small church or have demanding schedules that spare no time to plan a wedding. Other couples simply want a one-of-a-kind experience.

PICAYUNE -- Patricia Drackett has a life-long love of playing in the dirt with worms, nature’s original gardeners, and she has the picture to prove it.

The photo of a little girl covered in dirt and holding a long earthworm is old and faded, but it remains one of Drackett’s most treasured possessions, especially after it survived Hurricane Katrina. She said her love for plants started with pulling weeds in her grandmother’s garden.

“People in plant-related fields often look back to their childhood for the origins of their career path,” she said.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Ronnie Crawford’s 300-acre pasture and forage operation in Prentiss County is the kind of conservation success a Mississippi State University initiative is trying to encourage across the state.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University genetic researcher recently won a national award for his collaboration with a team of scientists to map a cotton genome.

Daniel Peterson, director of MSU’s Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology and scientist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, received the 2012 Cotton Biotechnology Award from the National Cotton Council of America and Cotton Incorporated.

VERONA – The growing interest in fruit and vegetable farming in north Mississippi is reflected in the expanded agenda for an upcoming growers’ meeting at the Lee County Agri-Center.

Two full days of seminars and activities are planned for the third annual North Mississippi Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference and Trade Show Feb. 14 and 15 in the Magnolia Building at the agri-center in Verona.