
The Mississippi State University Extension Service has hired Sylvia Clark in response to Mississippians’ growing interest in returning to traditional methods of food preparation and preservation, sewing and home arts. Clark serves as an Extension associate for family and consumer sciences. She received her bachelor’s degree in agricultural and information science and her master’s degree [...] [...]
Mississippi State University Extension Service has hired three agricultural economists. And, another Extension staff member has earned an honor. James Barnes and Brian Williams are located on MSU’s main campus in Starkville while Larry Falconer is based out of MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. Williams specializes in commodity marketing of beef cattle, [...] [...]

Jeff Harris is the new Mississippi State University Extension Service apiculture specialist and researcher with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Harris previously worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the honeybee-breeding laboratory in Baton Rouge, La. For the past 12 years, Harris has focused his research efforts on breeding honeybees resistant to [...] [...]

Mississippi State University’s Extension Service has hired Eric Stafne as the assistant Extension professor of fruit crops. He is located at MSU’s Coastal Research and Extension Center in Poplarville. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in forestry, Stafne received his master’s in horticulture and doctorate in plant science, both from the University [...] [...]

by Wally Northway Published: January 2,2012
Tags: agricultural commodities, agriculture, catfish, cattle, corn, cotton, eggs, forestry, hay, Mississippi agriculture, Mississippi State University Extension Service, new value record, new value record year in 2011, poultry, rice, soybeans
Despite a challenging year of bad weather and a faltering economy, Mississippi agriculture set a new value record year in 2011, according to a report form the Mississippi State University Extension Service. However, spiraling input costs as well as financial woes at home and abroad and an angry Mother Nature put a squeeze on farmers’ [...] [...]
Mississippi State University’s Extension Service has selected Trent Irby as the new soybean specialist to assist the state’s soybean growers. He began work in January. Irby, a Mississippi native, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at MSU in 2005 and 2009, respectively, and is finishing his doctorate. He served as a student representative to the [...] [...]

Back in the summer, the peanut industry was facing a crisis. The extended drought had affected nearly half of the state’s peanut growers, and they were looking at a bad, perhaps disastrous, year. But, the same September rains from Tropical Storm Lee that saved pecan growers turned the season around for peanut farmers. Instead of [...] [...]

For the state’s sod growers, 2010 was a year to forget. Rocked by low demand due to the lack of new construction as well as adverse weather patterns, the industry saw many producers forced out of business, and those that survived struggled to remain a going concern. Unfortunately, producers will hold no fond memories of [...] [...]

Ryan Akers, a Mississippi State University Extension Service assistant professor in MSU’s School of Human Sciences and with the Center for Government Training and Technology, will help the university and organizations around the state prepare for disaster situations. Akers will provide statewide leadership in the development and implementation of Extension emergency management programming. The curriculums [...] [...]

John Michael Riley, Ph.D., grew up on a farm and had a love for math. And he has parlayed his passion for agriculture and numbers into a career. The agriculture economist with Mississippi State University Extension Service, Riley is “The Numbers Guy.” Researchers and scientists, farmers, elected officials, media — if they are looking for [...] [...]