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News Filed Under Crops

August 30, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Rice

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Bolivar County, Mississippi, is the place to be for rice connoisseurs Sept. 21.

Rice Fest will highlight the commodity from 4-9 p.m. in downtown Merigold.  Not only is it National Rice Month, but this year marks the 33rd year Delta Rice Promotions has highlighted the state’s rice producers and industry. The event is free of charge and open to the public.

August 7, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Crops, Fruit

CARRIERE, Miss. -- The 2023 Muscadine Field Day will be held Aug. 24 at the Mississippi State University McNeill Research Unit, a branch of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Topics include propagation, pruning, insects, diseases and more.

Lush soybean plants grow in rows.
August 1, 2023 - Filed Under: Soybeans

Mississippi’s 2.3 million acre soybean crop is looking strong late in its growing season, thanks to somewhat earlier planting dates and almost ideal conditions through the end of July. 

Rows of lettuce
July 31, 2023 - Filed Under: Greenhouse Tomatoes, Specialty Crop Production

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Vegetable growers soon will have two chances to learn about managing pests on produce in greenhouses and high tunnels.

The one-day workshop Vegetable Pest Management in High Tunnels and Greenhouses will be held at two locations: the Mississippi State University Extension Service Forrest County office in Hattiesburg on Aug. 30, and the MSU Extension Lafayette County office in Oxford on Sept. 1.

A hand holds sweet potatoes just lifted from the ground.
July 31, 2023 - Filed Under: Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potato producers and industry professionals are invited to tour Mississippi State University’s research plots and learn current information about this crop’s production at an Aug. 24 event in northeast Mississippi. The 2023 MSU Sweet Potato Field Day at the Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station begins with registration at 8 a.m., followed by a guided tour of ongoing projects that begins about 8:30.

July 25, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Cotton, Planting

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Row crop growers interested in the latest updates in cotton variety research and testing are encouraged to attend the 2023 Mississippi State University Cotton Agronomy Field Day August 24.

The MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will host the event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the MAFES Veteran’s Memorial Rose Garden at 601 Highway 182 in Starkville.

Eye level with a row of small plants that extends into the distance.
June 20, 2023 - Filed Under: Cotton

Mississippi’s cotton crop was in the ground by the second week of June, although fewer acres were planted this year because of low prices and high production costs.
Brian Pieralisi, cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said cotton planting was essentially complete by mid-June. Any unplanted fields intended for cotton were too wet to plant and will likely be switched to soybeans instead.

A watermelon sits in a field.
June 19, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Crops, Commercial Horticulture, Watermelon Cantaloupe and Cucumber, Watermelons

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Harvest is in full swing for Mississippi watermelon producers as rains ramp up, increasing the likelihood of disease and ruined melons.

 Corn plants snapped by hail and wind damage
June 16, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Corn, Cotton, Soybeans

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- After a June 14 severe thunderstorm dropped some of the state’s largest recorded hail on Noxubee County, row-crop farmland there suffered up to 50% yield loss.

A 5-inch-diameter hailstone from the eastern Mississippi storm cell made media headlines, but reports of wind and hail damage to crops in the Mississippi Delta began rolling in as early as the previous weekend.

Young soybean plants emerge.
June 9, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Crops, Soybeans

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Anytime conditions allow soybean growers in Mississippi to begin planting in April, they have started on the right foot.

On the week ending June 4, 93% of the state’s crop was in the ground, and 87% was reported emerged; both percentages are just ahead of state five-year averages.

Young rice plants stand in a field.
May 26, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Crops, Rice

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- After taking a break from rice last year, Mississippi producers who typically grow the crop have returned to it this year. Hunter Bowman, Mississippi State University Extension Service rice specialist, said growers in the state have planted 119,000 acres of rice. That’s well over the 84,500 acres planted in 2022.

Small corn plants grow in a field.
May 25, 2023 - Filed Under: Corn

Mississippi corn producers got off to an early start and have enjoyed mild spring weather in 2023, advantages that gave this year’s crop a good start.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that as of May 21, 98% of Mississippi’s corn was planted. To date, 69% is in good or excellent condition, with another 27% listed as fair.

Tomatoes on a vine.
May 24, 2023 - Filed Under: Tomato Pepper and Eggplant, Vegetable Gardens

There’s nothing as divine as a homegrown tomato. I’m a sucker for a tomato sandwich or a BLT during summer.

April 4, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Corn, Cotton, Rice, Soybeans, Pre-Planting, Planting

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- If the newest Mississippi planting forecast holds, more corn and rice will be produced in 2023 compared to recent years, while demand will drive down cotton acreage.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, released its annual prospective plantings report March 31. According to the report, intended cotton acreage is at 400,000 acres, down 25% from the 530,000 acres planted in 2022. Growers also plan to plant 700,000 acres of corn, which is 21% more than the 580,000 acres harvested last year.

Alt Text: Close-up of freeze-damaged blueberries
March 27, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Crops, Commercial Horticulture, Commercial Fruit and Nuts, Fruit, Local Flavor, Specialty Crop Production

POPLARVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi blueberry producers expect to see substantial yield losses in the state’s largest commercial fruit crop after the hard freeze that hit the state on the weekend of March 18. Eric Stafne, fruit and nut specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said growers will see significant losses. The condition of the crop is poor based on what commercial growers are reporting to him and his observation of damage to blueberry plants at the South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville, where he is based.

A woman works in a laboratory.
March 23, 2023 - Filed Under: Sweet Potatoes, Soil Testing, Plant Disease and Nematode Diagnostic Services

Sweet potato growers in Mississippi can get free nematode testing of soil samples they send to Mississippi State University from now until Dec. 31, 2024. The samples can be submitted in nematode bags available at local county MSU Extension Service offices; samples are also accepted in quart-sized, sealed plastic bags.

Two green insects rest inside a plant bloom.
March 20, 2023 - Filed Under: Cotton, Insects-Crop Pests

The tarnished plant bug is Mississippi’s No. 1 most economically damaging insect in cotton, costing an estimated $42 million in yield losses plus millions more spent to control the pest.

A tractor with a boom arm sprays crops.
March 6, 2023 - Filed Under: Agricultural Economics, Crops, Soil Fertility

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Agricultural producers hoping for some relief from recent high fertilizer prices are not likely to find it in 2023.

Brian Mills, Mississippi State University Extension Service ag economist at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, said fertilizer prices are expected to remain at 2022 levels.

“We do have good, high crop prices, and with high crop prices, you usually see input costs stay high and go up,” Mills said.

A group of people listen to a public speaker.
February 28, 2023 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Other Aquaculture Species, Crops, Commercial Horticulture, Cotton, Soybeans, Sweet Potatoes, Beef, Dairy, Goats and Sheep, Swine

VERONA, Miss. -- Producers come across issues each season that need to be addressed, whether they require new research on a problem or a commodity specialist who can help identify timely solutions.

For those people, February is the month to speak up. Specialists and scientists with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station are available specifically for them at three different MSU Research and Extension Center locations throughout the state during annual Producer Advisory Council meetings.

A man pours a bag into a yellow hopper on a tractor.
February 23, 2023 - Filed Under: Crops, Insects-Crop Pests

When managing insects and diseases in row crops, growers typically act after a problem appears, but there are no reactive treatments for some pests, including soil insects that attack seeds and developing seedlings.

Management such as seed treatments or in-furrow insecticides for these pests has to be applied at the time of planting. Mississippi State University researchers say seed treatments make good sense for many crops.

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