| Page 360 | Mississippi State University Extension Service

BILOXI, Miss. -- The Atlantic hurricane that sunk the cargo ship El Faro in early October highlights the need for sailors to be trained in how to react in an emergency.

Dave Burrage, Mississippi State University Extension professor of marine resources at the Coastal Research and Extension Center, is trained to certify marine safety instructors who are sailors on commercial vessels. Two Mississippi sailors he trained survived an on-the-water collision that sunk one boat in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Dave Burrage, Mississippi State University Extension Service professor, demonstrates safety features on a life raft used aboard commercial fishing vessels. (Photo by MS-AL Sea Grant Consortium/Melissa Schneider)

Mississippi State University Extension Service instructor Peter Nguyen, right foreground, helps commercial fishermen practice getting into survival suits at a Gulf Coast swimming pool. (Photo by MS-AL Sea Grant Consortium/Melissa Schneider)

Read more about MSU boat safety training helps save two fishermen

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- If inquiries about new or expanded businesses are the heartbeat of Mississippi horticulture, then agricultural economist Alba Collart knows 2015 is a healthy year for the industry.

Collart, assistant professor of agricultural economics with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said horticultural crops are important to Mississippi’s agricultural economy. These specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts and products grown for environmental horticulture, also known as the green industry.