GREENWOOD, Miss. -- Farmers can learn a variety of useful information about tomatoes and cucumbers during a May 19 Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production field day.

Hosted at Levee Run Farm in Greenwood, the event will cover composting and trellising these crops, as well as ways to control insects and disease. Attendees also will learn about the family farm’s vegetables, flowers, fruit trees, high tunnels and pastured poultry.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- A Mississippi State University agricultural economist, who has spent his career helping farmers develop management plans, recently earned a lifetime achievement award from his professional organization.

Lawrence Falconer received the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the organization's highest award for significant and enduring contributions to the agricultural economics profession, at its annual meeting in Mobile on Feb. 7.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi livestock producers have a new resource for research-based information to help them manage their businesses.

Josh Maples has joined the faculty of the Mississippi State University Department of Agricultural Economics as an assistant professor with Extension responsibilities in livestock marketing and agribusiness. Maples, a native of Alabama, received his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural economics from MSU and a doctorate from Oklahoma State University.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Poultry remains Mississippi's top agricultural commodity with an estimated value of $2.9 billion, and it shows no signs of slowing down in 2017.

Forestry comes in a distant second with total farm-gate value of $1.4 billion, according to 2016 estimates.

Mississippi State University Extension Service economists just released their estimates for the state's agricultural commodity values in 2016. The top commodities remain poultry and forestry. Soybeans remain in the third spot, dropping 1.7 percent to just over $1 billion.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A farm crisis may have silently begun in the United States, an agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service concluded after careful consideration of commodity prices and farm costs.

"2013 was the last year of relatively high commodity prices. At that same time, during the run-up of commodity prices from the mid-2000s to 2013, input costs went up," said Bryon Parman, Extension agricultural economist. "Now, commodity prices have come down, but input costs have not come down nearly as fast."

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A national and international expert on agricultural risk management and crop insurance has been named head of Mississippi State’s Department of Agricultural Economics.

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BEIJING, China -- Expanding Mississippi agriculture requires getting to know potential markets, and a group of Mississippi State University Extension agents is seeing one of the largest in the world firsthand.

GOODMAN, Miss. -- Farmers and producers can learn about the relationship between risk management and insurance during a July 17 field day at the Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production Farm near Goodman.

Participants also will receive training in legal and contractual issues. The National Center for Appropriate Technology Gulf States Office and the University of Mississippi Transactional Law Clinic will team up to deliver these sessions.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Current crop prices do not clearly favor any one specific commodity, leaving growers to rely on budgets, risk management and crop rotations to guide their 2015 planting decisions.

Mississippi’s grain sorghum fields experienced a new insect pest in 2014 that could have caused significant yield losses to a large percentage of the crop.

Angus Catchot, an entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said Extension specialists and agents acted quickly to alert growers of the new threat, heading off almost certain yield losses.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University Extension Service agricultural economists will hold a series of workshops related to the Agricultural Act of 2014 in February.

“Farm Bill Summary, Analysis and Decision Aids” will address six topics related to the new farm bill. Workshops will cover the fine points of the legislation and how the state’s crop producers will be affected. Topics include agricultural risk coverage, price-loss coverage, supplemental coverage option, stacked-income protection plan, farm bill analysis and decision aids.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Despite low prices for many commodities, the overall projected totals for Mississippi’s crop values should top $7 billion for the third straight year and essentially match the record set in 2013.

John Michael Riley, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said his preliminary estimate of 2014’s agricultural production values, excluding government payments, is over $7.7 billion.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Jamie Earp operates a successful sweet potato farm in Chickasaw County, but he chose to work with a graphic design class at Mississippi State University to develop a new brand image.

Fifteen graphic art students in Suzanne Powney’s advanced print production class got to work with an actual client as they learned their craft. They completed the service-learning project with Earp.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Excellent summer crop harvests in recent years is partly responsible for a significant decrease in the amount of wheat being planted in the state this fall.

Official estimates are not yet available, but Erick Larson, grain crops agronomist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said he expects state farmers to plant less than 150,000 acres of wheat in 2014. Wheat planted in the fall is harvested early the following summer.

TUNICA -- The nation’s farmers and agricultural landowners have some important decisions to make in the next six months.

Krysta Harden, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, met with farmers and others at the Tunica Museum on Sept. 29 to answer questions about programs available in the new farm bill.

While the delay in passage of the farm bill created some deadline challenges, Harden said USDA is working with the Extension Service in each state to help farmers and landowners understand the process, which is managed through the Farm Service Agency.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Who knew Mississippi corn growers should worry about bears?

The bears are not in the fields eating the crop; they are in the market, eating the profits. When economists refer to a bear market, they are talking about declining stock prices over a prolonged period, usually a 20 percent or larger decline.

Brian Williams, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said several factors have pushed corn prices down in recent weeks.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi producers planted more of the state’s major row crops than they planned in March, and the majority of them are in good condition.

Every winter, Mississippi producers estimate how many acres they will plant of each crop they intend to grow. The U.S. Department of Agriculture tabulates these in March and issues the planting intentions report. On June 30, USDA released actual planted acre figures for the state.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University scientists analyzed risk-management programs in the Agricultural Act of 2014 and have a recommendation to help soybean producers make informed decisions.

In the new farm bill, soybean producers must decide which of two types of coverage -- Agricultural Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage -- will best protect their profit margins.

JACKSON -- Most peanut growers are on schedule despite the cool, wet weather that hit Mississippi at the beginning of May.

“We are in pretty good shape all over the state,” said Jason Sarver, peanut specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. “The cool, wet spell we had set some folks back, but only by a week or so. Depending on this summer’s conditions, their harvest might be pushed a little later, but nothing extreme.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The poultry industry is riding a wave of success, propelling it from a strong 2013 into another year with promises of favorable market prices and lower production costs.

John Michael Riley, an agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said several issues will influence poultry profits in 2014.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Memories of last year’s bumper crops have Mississippi farmers eager for fields to dry out so they can plant the 2014 crop.

Market potential remains the first consideration when making crop choices.

“Prices are driving growers’ planting decisions,” said Brian Williams, an agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “Mississippi corn is trading about $2.50 per bushel lower than a year ago, while Mississippi soybean prices are slightly higher than a year ago.”