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MSU scientist part of regional organic project
VERONA, Miss. -- A Mississippi State University vegetable expert is part of a project designed to support and strengthen organic farming in the Southeast.
Casey Barickman, an assistant horticulture professor with the MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, is working with colleagues from Tuskegee University, Auburn University, North Carolina State University, the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network and Oregon State University to give organic growers the information they need to develop efficient production systems.
Consumer demand for organic produce continues to grow, but most Southern states lag behind in organic fruit and vegetable production. This project, funded by a $2 million grant from the U.S Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will provide research and Extension support to increase the development of a sustainable organic agriculture industry.
Barickman, who has been at MSU for three years, studies a wide range of issues that impact local growers, including cover crops, organic-based fertilizers and irrigation efficiency in organic vegetable production systems. He is based at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona.
For more information about the grant-funded collaboration, visit http://bit.ly/2qSJWWI.