News

MISSISSIPPI STATE – As the economy continues to present challenges, an upcoming workshop will help new food business owners learn how to battle the stiff odds and have a better chance to succeed.

“Food as a Business” is a day-long video conference Aug. 11 with satellite locations at Mississippi State University and in Biloxi, Raymond, Verona and Cleveland. The $40 registration fee covers breaks, lunch and conference materials, and must be received by July 31.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Black Thai banana was one of the most sought-after bananas at the early spring Mississippi Garden and Patio Shows. If you were like me, you missed the chance to grab one for yourself. My friend Barbara Harvey in Kosciusko did not miss out on the opportunity to brighten up her landscape with this banana.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

After three years, I am hooked on the New Guinea-type impatiens series called SunPatiens. The heat over the past few weeks has made gardening a real struggle. But every day, I pull into the driveway next to SunPatiens putting on a show.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – While Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District celebrates its new No. 1 status in poultry production, industry insiders know Mississippi State University’s support made this achievement possible.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s 2009 cotton is shaping up to be more a story of how the mighty have fallen than another chapter in the reign of King Cotton.

A poor outlook on market prices and continued high input costs led many producers to move away from cotton, and wet weather during the April and May planting window kept even more acres out of cotton production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates Mississippi has 270,000 acres of cotton in 2009, the lowest on record. For comparison, Mississippi had 1.2 million acres of cotton in 2006.

By Karen Templeton
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Busy schedules and hectic lives are making it increasingly difficult for families to prepare meals together and find the time to sit down to enjoy them.

By Steven Nalley
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University Extension Service county offices receive a wide range of questions from the state’s diverse population, and the office associates typically are on the front line of all incoming calls.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Fickle weather may have altered the production schedule for watermelons this year, but Mississippi growers will have plenty of the popular red fruit available for summertime eating.

“Growers started pulling melons last week and will be in full swing as the marketing season begins,” said George County agent Mike Steede of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “The melons look good and have filled out well.”

By Jason Brandt and Karen Brasher
MSU College of Forest Resources

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The red snapper has proven to be an economically and culturally important fish species, but their numbers are declining throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.

To help address this problem, Mississippi State University scientists, in collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, are examining how artificial reefs might slow red snapper decline and assist in its recovery.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippians who are firing up their grills have a valuable resource for tips and tricks in their community’s 4-H youth.

Youth who participate in the 4-H program of the Mississippi State University Extension Service sharpen their culinary skills by competing in the meats cookoff contest each summer. They often carry this experience into adulthood and become avid about the end result from barbecuing meat the correct way.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Fewer cotton acres in Mississippi mean less demand for cotton ginning, and whole communities in the Mississippi Delta are feeling the impact of the loss of their livelihood.

A cotton gin is the piece of equipment that separates the cotton seeds from the cotton. Eli Whitney mechanized this process for the first time in 1793.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Red Emperor ginger is one of those plants people treasure even if it never blooms. I did not know much about this plant but received a cluster of them from my daughter, who had been using them as a thriller plant in a mixed container for a special event.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University research and Extension experts will provide information and demonstrations about agronomic research activities on July 14.

MSU’s Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station will host its annual Research and Demonstration Tour. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s fruit growers are harvesting about twice as many blueberries as they did last year, thanks largely to the lack of significant spring freezes.

John Braswell, Mississippi State University horticulture specialist at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, said growers in south Mississippi have just passed the peak of the 2009 harvest season.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Some graduating Mississippi State University veterinary students participate in a national match-making program each year that has nothing to do with romance and everything to do with successful careers.

The national match program enhances career opportunities for graduating doctors of veterinary medicine, or DVMs, and introduces potential faculty to jobs available at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

By Jonathan Paul Fleming and Karen Brasher
MSU College of Forest Resources

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Many anglers have long lived by the motto “grass equals bass,” and for a bass fisherman, there is nothing more thrilling than pulling a spinner-bait along a weed edge and getting a strike.

This simple motto is being investigated by researchers who say that the right type of vegetation in lakes and reservoirs can improve fishing opportunities.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Carbon trading has been around for about a decade, but with the increasing global concern regarding climate change, it is receiving even more attention.

Forest landowners have the potential to generate additional income by using their forest for carbon sequestration, a method providing long-term storage of carbon dioxide.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Rural communities in Mississippi and Louisiana have unique cultural atmospheres, attractions and small-town qualities that tourists enjoy.

The fourth annual Regional Tourism Summit of the Miss-Lou Rural Tourism Association can help community representatives identify these elements and design a creative marketing plan to bring visitors to the area.

The summit will be held Aug. 11-13 at the Paragon Casino in Marksville, La. The theme is “Gateways to Get-A-Ways: Preserving the Past, Preparing for the Future.”

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It’s easy to love Shasta daisies, but when they look like shredded coconut on top of round cupcakes, they seem good enough to eat.

Last week we filmed a Southern Gardening segment in Mississippi’s hot Delta at the Wister Gardens in Belzoni. It’s called The Delta’s Garden, but the readers of Mississippi Magazine recently honored Wister as Mississippi’s Best Garden.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Wheat growers in Mississippi watched what was a very good crop in early spring turn into a major disappointment by harvest.

About 75 percent of the state’s 230,000 wheat acres were harvested by mid-June. Some of the remaining acres will never be harvested, as they are flooded by Yazoo River backwater.

Erick Larson, grain crops agronomist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the crop was doing well through February until heavy rains started in mid-March and continued through April and May.