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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Speeding along a wooded trail on a bright, chilly morning can bring a lot of enjoyment and excitement. And it sure is a lot easier getting to that back-country deer blind or dove field if you can load up all the gear and head off on wheels.

But the off-road vehicle you may be riding -- whether a 4x4 all-terrain vehicle, side-by-side utility vehicle or dirt bike -- has some downsides. While undeniably fun and useful in transportation, an off-road vehicle can also be an environmental hazard and personal nuisance when used incorrectly.  

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Dry September weather has Mississippi soybean producers on opposite ends of the irrigation spectrum: Some are done, while others want to water one more time.

Jason Krutz, irrigation specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, has a question for them: What do the soil moisture sensors say?

BILOXI, Miss. -- Volunteers can help tidy their beaches and coastal waterways during this year’s Mississippi Coastal Cleanup event Oct. 22.

The 28th annual event begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 11 a.m. at more than 40 cleanup sites in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties. Under the direction of Coastal Cleanup zone captains, participants will clear designated areas of debris, such as plastic bottles, cigarette butts, plastic bags and food wrappers.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- The new Mississippi State University provost and executive vice president, Judy Bonner, toured the university’s off-campus Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station [MAFES] facilities on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

MOUNT OLIVE, Miss. -- Farmers can learn about growing hydroponic produce and selling their crops to institutions during the upcoming Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production field day Sept. 16.

The on-farm field day will be at Triple Eaton Farm, located at 953 Mt. Olive Road in Mt. Olive.

Farm owner Leon Eaton will share his experience of growing hydroponic tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables, as well as marketing produce to specialty food stores and restaurants. Attendees will get a tour of Eaton’s hydroponic growing system.

Now that we’re finally into September, I think many of our landscape plants are rejoicing in anticipation of the (hopefully) coming milder temperatures as much as I am. The colorful annuals that survived the hot summer will start to recover, while other landscape plants have been waiting for this season to begin their show.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Members of Mississippi’s U.S. congressional staff met with agricultural producers, industry leaders and Mississippi State University experts during a recent two-day tour.

Six congressional staffers from each district toured key aspects of the state’s No. 1 industry Aug. 29 and 30.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi dairy farmers have a new specialist to advise them on best management practices and solutions to problems.

Amanda Stone began work on Aug. 16 with the Mississippi State University Extension Service as assistant Extension professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- There are several things landowners should consider before allowing people to use or rent their land for recreation, such as hunting and fishing.

Important considerations include drafting a legal lease, addressing accident liability concerns and figuring out what to charge. With a recreational or hunting lease, the landowner grants access to his or her land for recreational purposes for a certain period of time in exchange for fees or services.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Cue the song “Anticipation” for Mississippi’s rice growers because that title and chorus perfectly describe this point in the season.

“The majority of our rice fields are drained, and we are just waiting for conditions to stay dry long enough for harvests,” said Bobby Golden, Extension rice specialist based at the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. “The weather has made us about 10 days later than normal. Harvest activity should increase rapidly in the first days of September as long as we stay dry.”

CLEVELAND, Miss. -- Business-minded Mississippians who realize that tourism is a lucrative enterprise that reaches far beyond the state’s beaches will have an opportunity for training and funding in October.

Leveraging Cultural Tourism for Community Development is a two-day workshop planned for Oct. 13-14 in Cleveland, Mississippi. It will teach anyone interested and involved in tourism how to design tours, create weekend getaways and capitalize on current tourism trends and resources available in the Mississippi Delta.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Thor was an aging but happy English mastiff living in Louisville with Vanessa Beeson, her husband Ray and son Avett, 4. When this once 200-pound dog’s health declined, he dropped to 135 pounds.

“Around May 2014, we noticed that Thor started to be a little less competent on his back legs,” Beeson said. “He started a slow decline with hip dysplasia, a torn ACL and other problems, and he began to lose his mobility and function.”

CADARETTA, Miss. -- A 325-acre farm in northwest Webster County has never been owned by anyone but a Pittman.

Fran Pittman has designs on keeping it that way.

She and her husband, Alfred Pittman, have operated Pittman Farms -- part of which includes the land they refer to as “The Old Home Place” -- since they married in 1974.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- After nearly 3 feet of rain in two days caused historic flooding and widespread damage in Louisiana and southwest Mississippi earlier this month, volunteers from Mississippi State University are assisting in relief efforts.

The current tropical systems swirling around are causing more homeowners to wonder about how to deal with weather-related damage in the landscape.

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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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Wet, cloudy weather through much of August has prevented corn from drying as it should before harvest, possibly cutting into farmers’ profit margins.

Erick Larson, corn specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said corn matures at 30 percent moisture. Prices are docked if growers deliver corn with a moisture content above 15.5 percent, which is the standard suitable for corn grain storage.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The same principle that cools down kids running through a lawn sprinkler on a hot summer day is being tested on chickens in Mississippi State University’s commercial poultry houses.

Tom Tabler, Extension poultry specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said keeping chickens cool in the summer is a life-or-death matter. Mississippi summer temperatures often exceed 90 degrees with humidity above 80 percent.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Hunters love new gadgets that are supposed to help them find and harvest more game, but most of this gear falls short of delivering on its promise.

Game cameras, also known as trail cameras, are among the advancements in technology that can improve hunting and management. The game camera is a versatile piece of equipment that can be used for important management tasks like surveying deer population characteristics or just helping around the house by keeping an eye on your garden.

STARKVILLE, Miss – A new partnership between Mississippi State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s APHIS Wildlife Services program has made the university home to a national training academy.

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