News

Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson instructs anyone receiving packages of unsolicited seeds from China, or any foreign country, in recent days to immediately contact the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce’s Bureau of Plant Industry by phoning (662) 325-3390. Those receiving the seeds are instructed to hold onto the seeds and packaging, including the mailing label, until someone from MDAC’s Bureau of Plant Industry contacts you with further instructions. Do not plant seeds from unknown origins.

Parents can help children understand how to stay healthy at school amid the COVID-19 pandemic as they prepare for the start of the academic year.

It’s the end of July, and much of my vegetable garden is a distant memory due to the summer heat and humidity. But I’m always encouraged by the production I enjoy from my pepper plants.

I’m staying with the theme of second summer this week because I was out in my landscape early this morning taking care of a task that was hard to do but inevitable.

Cash flow challenges are the latest struggle for Mississippi catfish producers, as product sales to their biggest consumers -- restaurants -- are way down due to COVID-19.

A Mississippi State University Extension Service food safety specialist has been selected to serve on the Executive Advisory Board of the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance.

David Buys, associate professor in MSU’s Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion and state health specialist with the MSU Extension Service, is being honored as a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

A couple of weeks ago, I gave you my thoughts on the second summer season in our Mississippi landscapes and gardens. In my vegetable garden, the harvest output of my heirloom tomatoes and pickling cucumbers is declining, and I am taking these plants out. But my peppers are stepping up and providing my family with a bounty of brightly colored fruit.

Parents dealing with COVID-19 closings are working daily to find safe child care for young children when most of the traditional summer options are gone.

Cotton and corn acreage in Mississippi are more than 30% below March projections, while growers of soybeans and peanuts planted much more than initially forecasted.

One of my landscape joys is growing plants that share their big flowers with me.

Two simple, daily steps can protect Mississippi’s youngest citizens from lead poisoning. Jason Barrett, an assistant Extension professor in the Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute, said lead in drinking water can harm children’s health. But flushing faucets each morning and using cold water for cooking and preparing baby bottles can greatly reduce exposure.

Each year as we approach Independence Day, my landscape and garden begin a transition to what I like to call “second summer.” This is due to the heat and humidity that set in anywhere from late April to mid-May.

Knowing that many Mississippians share a love for home-grown tomatoes, two Mississippi State University Extension Service agents designed programs just for them.

Three Mississippi State University agricultural economists contributed to a national academic report on the effects of COVID-19 on food and agricultural markets.

Everyone has a certain color that is their absolute favorite, and I’m no different. And while I really like the entire palette of colors available for our gardens and landscape, the one color I must have is blue.

Successful Mississippi gardens are filling up with beautiful tomatoes, but unless gardeners stay alert and act, these plants can succumb to summer insect pests and diseases.

As we ease into summer, if you listen closely during dusk and early nighttime hours, you may hear the distinctive sounds of goatsuckers.

Yes, you read that correctly: goatsuckers. Despite the unusual name, these are not fictional creatures.