Crops
Mississippi’s diverse soils, abundant rainfall, and moderate climate allow producers to plant a wide variety of agricultural crops. From iconic cotton to cutting-edge energy crops for biofuels, MSU scientists support the state’s agricultural commodities in a variety of ways.
Extension agents and specialists address growers’ immediate needs and challenges and help producers use university-based research to determine the most efficient production methods, best management practices, and most effective seed varieties for their unique needs.
For the most up-to-date information on the state’s agricultural crops, visit the Mississippi Crop Situation blog.
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Mississippi sweet potato fields that missed needed rains in June and July are experiencing favorable harvest conditions in October.
Jamie Earp, president of the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council, said yields are “fair, at best” at the halfway point in the 2018 harvest season.
Most of Mississippi’s corn and rice crops had been harvested when prolonged, late-September rains soaked much of the state, but the wet weather could not have come at a worse time for soybeans and cotton.
As farmers head out to their fields, locating underground utility lines may not be at the top of their safety checklists.
But this knowledge should be a top priority, said Leslie Woolington, a risk management specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.
Grain sorghum has never been a major agricultural commodity in Mississippi, but it has seen better days: For two years in a row, acreage of the crop has been less than one-tenth of its annual average.
What is sometimes called the green industry includes landscape services and greenhouse and nursery production, a wide-ranging, growing agricultural sector worth more than $1 billion to the state.
Success Stories
Just because something happens by chance doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea.
After more than a decade of farming with traditional methods, Donald Gant started no-till farming in 1981 on some rented ground.
Photo by Jonathan Parrish
During a short break from August rain, Bubba Simmons, a partner in Simmons Planting Company in Hollandale, begins harvesting corn. Altogether, Simmons farms about 6,000 acres of corn, soybeans, and rice in Washington County.
When Mississippi’s Giant Houseparty kicked off at the end of July, hundreds of exhibitors displayed thousands of items that showcase their handiwork to the Neshoba County Fair’s many visitors.
The Exhibit Hall, organized and operated by the Neshoba County office of the Mississippi State University Extension Service, annually displays the handiwork of adults and children in several categories, including fresh fruits and vegetables, field crops, food preservation, arts and crafts, posters, and food and nutrition.
Publicity was not on the mind of Mike Sturdivant III in 1974 when he began farming, so his response to being named the 2017 Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year for Mississippi was one of surprise.
When Mississippi achieved statehood in 1817, its cotton industry was only beginning to take off. By 1917, boll weevils were devastating the state’s cotton crop and its economy.
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