Business Blog

Seems Mississippi and the Detroit Tigers have something in common. They both could use some bats. The Tigers’ bats disappeared in their four straight World Series losses to the new World Champion San Francisco Giants. Alas, they are expected to return for the 2013 season. But the Mississippi bats? No one is quite sure when [...]

VERONA – A drill turned real for DeSoto County emergency responders who were just settling in for a day of large animal rescue training when the call came on Sept. 28. An 18-wheeler hauling about 100 calves through the state hit the Coldwater River bridge on Highway 78 in DeSoto County,” said Dr. Carla Huston, [...]

  Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn will travel the state next week for a series of town hall-style meetings to gather comments and suggestions in preparation for the 2013 legislative session. The meetings will take place the week of Oct. 8, and each meeting will last for an hour and 15 minutes. Here’s the schedule: [...]

Rain in the drought-stricken Ohio Valley is the only remedy at the moment for falling water levels on the Mississippi River that this week is limiting north-and-south bound barge traffic to alternating12-hour schedules, says the head of a Greenville grain shipping cooperative. Steve Nail, president & CEO of the Farmers Grain Terminal, said Thursday a [...]

Cal-Maine Foods, the largest poultry egg producer and distributor in the United States, has announced the acquisition of Pilgrim’s Pride. The Jackson-based company (NASDAQ: CALM) said in a release earlier today that the deal includes two production complexes with capacity for approximately 1.4 million laying hens and adjacent land located near Pittsburg, Texas. The transaction is expected to [...]

BILOXI — The shrimp are slightly bigger, but prices are down, making this year’s season-opening in Biloxi comparable to last year’s start. As in previous years, Gulf shrimpers are seeing prices forced downward by competition from imported shrimp that sells for less. All the while, they are hit with higher operating cots, especially for diesel [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday completed a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill that cuts farm subsidies and land conservation spending by about $2 billion a year but largely protects sugar growers and some 46 million food stamp beneficiaries. The 64-35 vote for passage defied political odds. Many inside and outside of Congress had predicted [...]

A rapidly maturing 2012 wheat crop proved to be a timing challenge for Mississippi growers as they planted more acreage without an accompanying increase in yields. The state’s growers planted 480,000 acres, up from 360,000 acres the previous season. They were inspired to increase crop sizes by strong market prices and the record-average yields of [...]

A veteran administrator has been selected to temporarily head the operations of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the Mississippi State University Extension Service in North Mississippi. Dr. Joe Street will serve as the interim head of the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona beginning June 1,” said Gary Jackson, director [...]

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State’s work to achieve a “greener” campus, as well as efforts of the university’s sustainability coordinator, are being recognized by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Jeremiah Dumas recently was named a “Campus Sustainability Pioneer” by TVA and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy as part of the Green Power Switch Leadership Awards recognition [...]