Forestry
The Extension Service is a vital division of every land grant university in the United States. Each state has a land grant university system. Mississippi State is part of the land grant university system in Mississippi. In Michigan, it's Michigan State, in Georgia it's the University of Georgia and in Pennsylvania, it's Penn State University.
As part of the land grant university system with Alcorn State University, Mississippi State has the responsibility to extend the research accomplished at the university to those in the state that can't come to the school. To do this, the Extension Service, formerly known as the Cooperative Extension Service, occupies a major division of the university. The Extension Service Director has a network of county offices throughout Mississippi that house county Extension faculty and staff who serve local clientele with information on many topics including agriculture, family and consumer sciences, economic and community resource development, and 4-H/youth development.
Extension Forestry faculty are part of the MSU Department of Forestry and serve the Extension Service through the Director and county faculty by conducting forestry educational programs, writing publications, and other educational activities.
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The beginning of May brought a welcome sight for Mississippi producers: sunny skies and drying fields.
For the second straight year, precipitation levels well above normal in the winter and early spring have slowed planting significantly across much of Mississippi. Gaps of days between rains have not been long enough until now for many fields to sufficiently dry. Some fields have been under water for more than a year.
Easter Sunday’s severe weather and tornadoes left landowners in eight south Mississippi counties with battered timber stands. According to estimates by the Mississippi Forestry Commission, around 13,000 total acres of timber in Covington, Jasper, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lawrence, Marion, Smith and Walthall counties suffered about $14.9 million in damages.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- One of Kim Hancock’s routine jobs is assisting 4-H’ers in Jones County with their livestock projects. On Easter Sunday, she was helping some of those same young people and their families sort through the rubble of what was once their homes.
Thirty-two counties in Mississippi reported damage from a tornado outbreak April 12 that resulted in 12 fatalities, many injuries and catastrophic destruction to residential, commercial and agricultural property.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Social distancing guidelines already urged by federal and state health agencies should be followed closely to prevent exposure to COVID-19 during post-storm cleanup.
A severe weather outbreak April 12 caused widespread damage across the Southeast, but south Mississippi was hit particularly hard after a series of tornadoes left 11 deaths, several injuries and property destruction in its wake.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Necessary restrictions on travel and gatherings are affecting how the Mississippi State University Extension Service operates, but its ability to respond to the needs of its clients, the public and state agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic continues uninterrupted.
Extension’s roles during crises are many: emergency management, local level assistance, support for the state’s agricultural industry, and dissemination of public information and education.
Success Stories
Drew Sullivan admits his first timber tract would not have fetched an appraiser’s attention, but he usually drove back home from a lumber yard in Kemper County each week with around $150 in his pocket— not bad for a 15-year-old Mississippi boy growing up in the mid-90s.
In a normal year, Clay Adcock grows 4,000 acres of corn, cotton, and soybeans. But 2019 was anything but normal.
See what is new in Extension... Extension Holds New Agronomy Camp, Larry Alexander Fund Gives to the Future of 4-H, Extension Offers Ag Literacy Workshop for Teachers, Extension Offers Resources to Residents Affected by Backwater Flooding.
Foreman Matthew Ellis is responsible for keeping the grounds of the Biloxi National Cemetery in shape. But it’s more than just a job to him.
Logging is more than a job to Drew Massey. It’s in his blood. He is a fifth-generation logger. (Photo by Kevin Hudson)
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