News

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Necessary restrictions on travel and gatherings are affecting how the Mississippi State University Extension Service operates, but its ability to respond to the needs of its clients, the public and state agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic continues uninterrupted.

Extension’s roles during crises are many: emergency management, local level assistance, support for the state’s agricultural industry, and dissemination of public information and education.

Mississippi State University Extension experts join the chorus of voices urging all people to practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying this is crucial for older adults.

RAYMOND, Miss. – As people reduce trips to the grocery store to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus, older adults should pay special attention to what they put in their pantries. 

“As we age, we don’t need as many calories, but we still need the same amount of nutrients or more of certain nutrients,” said Qula Madkin, an Extension instructor of nutrition in the MSU Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion. “Maintaining a nutritious diet helps our body systems work properly, including our immune system.”

With much of our workforce telecommuting from home and with school suspended or cancelled for the kids, cabin fever has already become an issue for many households.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service will host a free webinar to discuss the impact of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, on cattle markets March 26 at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Agricultural economists Josh Maples of MSU and Derrell Peel of Oklahoma State University Extension will discuss the current situation and answer questions submitted by participants.

COVID-19 turned millions of families into homeschoolers who suddenly must decide how to structure learning for their students.

The Class of 2020, born in the shadow of 9/11 and graduating with traditional senior activities marred by COVID-19, will know without a doubt that life events can be unexpected.

As cases of COVID-19 grow around the country, many families are practicing social distancing to protect themselves and others.

This likely means people will be making fewer trips to the grocery store, cooking at home and using their freezers.

BILOXI, Miss.-- At Mississippi State University’s Coastal Research and Extension Center, we recently aged one of the largest tripletail fish ever caught.

Fertilizer recommendations are constantly examined and rarely modified, but change came this year after Mississippi State University research demonstrated higher potassium recommendations increase soybean yields.

We are certainly experiencing troubling and scary times right now. “Quarantine,” “pandemic” and “social distancing” have become frequently used words, at least until we get a handle on COVID-19.

As a result, garden and landscape shows are being cancelled all across the South out of an abundance of caution. But that doesn’t mean that gardening has been cancelled.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service has postponed all of its in-person events, trainings and meetings across the state through May 10 amid public health concerns surrounding COVID-19.

All Extension offices and units will remain open, and basic operations will continue as normal until further notice. This includes the Bost Extension Center on the main campus in Starkville, the four regional Research and Extension Centers and each of Extension’s 82 county offices. Online educational programming will also proceed as scheduled.

Sometimes it seems I need a larger garden landscape because, sadly, I don’t have room for every great plant I write about. But one group of plants I make sure to save space for is perennial salvia.

The Dicamba Applicator Training required for individuals who plan to apply dicamba herbicide products in Xtend cropping systems is open online and scheduled at several sites across Mississippi.

The online modules are available at http://auxintraining.com.

The face-to-face workshops will be March 16-17 in Tunica, Coahoma, Hinds, Lee and Washington counties.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippians looking to learn more about county government have a free, up-to-date resource at their fingertips. 

The Mississippi State University Extension Service has released the sixth edition of its publication “County Government in Mississippi.”

A collaborative effort between the MSU Extension Center for Government and Community Development and the Mississippi Association of Supervisors, the book is available at https://gcd.extension.msstate.edu/.

Believe it or not, urban landscapes can provide enough plant diversity to sustain honeybee colonies, making beekeeping a suitable hobby for both city and country dwellers. Jeff Harris, beekeeping specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said both locales have their pros and cons when it comes to growing healthy honeybee hives. “Many urban landscapes contain ornamentals and other flowering plants that provide a better and more diverse diet than monoculture crops,” Harris said. “Just like humans, bees are healthier when their food comes from many different sources, not just cheeseburgers -- or in the bees’ case, 3,000 acres of corn.”

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Rylee Plemons was one of several Mississippians who met at the Mississippi State Capitol Feb. 26 to tell their stories and raise awareness about living with a rare disease.

The 10-year-old Stone County 4-H member was diagnosed with Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia, or Fairbank’s disease, five years ago. He began sharing information about the degenerative joint disease through the Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H program.

March 1 was the meteorological first day of spring, and I found my thoughts wandering to those summer annuals I love so well. One of my cool-season favorites doesn’t last long past the last days of spring, but I know I have summer replacement.

Angelonia is a close relative of snapdragon that blooms all summer and into the fall. It is hard to believe that a plant in the snapdragon family relishes our summer heat and humidity, but this one does. Angelonia is a fantastic, easy-care annual that doesn’t need deadheading, which is always a positive in my garden choices.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Pathologists with Mississippi State University will be monitoring a relatively new plant disease in state cotton fields once the growing season is in full swing.

Cotton leafroll dwarf virus, or CLRDV, was first reported in Alabama in 2017. It is closely related to a cotton virus known to occur in South America. Historically, that virus has caused up to 80 percent yield losses in Brazilian cotton fields.

Beef cattle producers looking to improve their farms’ herd and forage production are invited to a field day March 26.