News

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi farmers may have survived one drought challenge only to face another as reduced river levels threaten a key transportation option.

Three exceptionally hot, dry weeks in June were taking a toll on the state’s crops when unseasonal July rains brought relief in time to salvage most fields. While Mississippi growers are not experiencing anything close to the dry conditions found across the nation’s Corn Belt, problems from the lack of water up north have trickled down to produce near-record lows on the Mississippi River.

JACKSON – After 20 years in Mississippi, the Master Gardener program is stronger than ever and still making its mark on the state.

Lelia Kelly, state Master Gardener coordinator with the Mississippi State University Extension Service since 2002, said she recognized the program had great potential and set out to help county Extension offices better reach the audience she knew was out there.

“In terms of popularity of Extension programs nationwide, the Master Gardener program is second only to 4-H,” Kelly said.

By Dr. Rebekah Ray
MSU Delta Research and Extension Center

STONEVILLE – Mississippi State University will honor a 1950 graduate and longtime professor and administrator when a new building is dedicated at the Delta Research and Extension Center.

The facility will be named the Verner G. Hurt Research and Extension Building in recognition of Hurt’s contributions to agriculture.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A doctoral student in Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has earned a national award for her parasitology research.

Dr. Flavia Girao Ferrari recently received the 2012 American Association of Veterinary Pathologists’ Merck Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Despite morning rains, about 150 people attended the Agronomic Crops Field Day at the R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center Thursday at Mississippi State University.

A bus tour took participants to six stops to view the university’s cotton, soybean and corn research and demonstration plots. Participants heard research updates and asked questions of the scientists.

Daylilies are extremely easy-to-grow flowering perennials, and their variety gives gardeners plenty of ways to create unique, colorful landscape designs.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Recent rains and irrigation have helped portions of Mississippi’s soybeans recover from June’s dry spell, but more moisture is needed to complete the season.

“We are thankful for the rain that we’ve received this growing season, and we all know it is a blessing,” said Trent Irby, Mississippi State University Extension Service soybean specialist. “But we still have several weeks to go in many areas, and additional moisture certainly will be needed to finish making the crop.”

Irby said the state’s soybean crop looks good.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Pictures of wilting corn in the Midwest may dominate the evening news, but the 2012 drought is also shrinking livestock’s profit potential nationwide.

John Michael Riley, agricultural economist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service, said the drought means livestock, dairy and aquaculture producers will continue to see higher feed prices.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A laboratory at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine recently became the first-ever recipient of an MSU award recognizing laboratories for outstanding attention to safety.

MSU’s Office of Regulatory Compliance and Safety presented the inaugural Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award to the Center for Environmental Health Sciences.

The award was established to recognize an MSU laboratory group that makes safety a top priority every day.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi has 187 known species of ants calling the state home, and while fire ants are the most feared, others can cause problems ranging from disruptive to serious.

Blake Layton, entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said several species of ants invade Mississippi homes.

The ones most commonly found are the Argentine ant, odorous house ant, little black ant, dark rover ant, imported fire ant, black carpenter ant and acrobat ant. A new invasive species, the hairy crazy ant, is found in Jackson and Hancock counties.

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Whether gardening, working or enjoying a baseball game, Mississippians should protect themselves from the heat of summer.

Several factors affect the body’s ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather. For example, in high humidity, sweat cannot evaporate rapidly, preventing the body from releasing heat quickly, said Ann Twiner, with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University doctoral candidate has been selected for a prestigious national fellowship focused on federal marine policies.

Clifford P. Hutt of Starkville is one of 53 scholars selected for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. He will spend a year in a legislative or executive office in Washington, D.C. to learn firsthand about federal policies impacting domestic waterways, including ocean, coast and Great Lakes resources. Since the fellowship program’s inception in 1979, Hutt is the first MSU student selected to participate.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Sumner Davis has been named department head of the Mississippi State University Extension Service center that supports local governments.

For 40 years, the Center for Governmental Training and Technology, or CGT, has led the development and implementation of educational programs for county and municipal officials, provided technical assistance to local units of government, and provided specialized publications for local government officials in Mississippi.

The beginning of a new school year also signals the time when teachers will be learning about their students’ special needs, including food allergies.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two middle-school science teachers returned to college this summer for lessons in functional genomics and biology that did not exist their first time around, and they educated their professor at the same time.

By Dr. Rebekah Ray
MSU Delta Research and Extension Center

STONEVILLE – Mississippi State University scientists are trying to identify soybean varieties resistant to a disease that can reduce yields by more than 20 bushels per acre.

MSU plant pathologist Gabe Sciumbato and research associate Walter Solomon are checking soybean varieties for purple leaf blight through MSU’s soybean variety trials. Both are Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researchers at MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

If you’re looking for a vigorous and unique ground cover for your landscape, consider a popular ornamental that I really enjoy, the colorful sweet potato vine.

Longtime favorites include Margarita, which is lime green with large leaves; Blackie, a cut-leaf variety with dark purple to black foliage; and Tricolor, which has leaves of green, pink and white.

New selections have introduced amazing color selections and leaf shapes.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – College freshmen who have prepared themselves for new experiences are often not ready for the so-called freshman 15, the dreaded weight gain associated with starting college.

Brent Fountain, associate Extension professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion at Mississippi State University, said weight gain is likely during the first few months of college life.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – An ideal growing season through mid-June turned into a hot and dry situation that stressed the state’s crops until widespread rains came after the Fourth of July.

The state has experienced very hot and dry weather in the last several weeks, but Mississippi State University experts remain optimistic about the overall potential.

Trent Irby, soybean specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said 90 percent of the state’s soybean crop was in the reproductive growth phase by the second week of July.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Creativity and planning ahead can make buying school clothes for the coming year gentler on checking accounts, even when parents have more than one child.

A growing percentage of Mississippi young people go to public and private schools dressed in uniforms. Purchasing uniforms and other school clothes can put unprepared parents in a financial hole if they are not careful.

Experts with the Mississippi State University Extension Service offered a variety of tips on how to make back-to-school clothes shopping less stressful.