News Filed Under Agriculture

In response to the continued expansion of screwworm flies into southern Mexico, the U.S. suspended live animal imports from Mexico on May 11, 2025, halting imports of feeder cattle from Mexico.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University’s National Center for Alluvial Aquifer Research in Leland will demonstrate an easier method for deploying polypipe at a field day showcasing irrigation water management strategies on June 12.

Irrigation experts are testing a new automatic system that punches holes in polypipe, which is used for furrow irrigation in row crops. In the Mississippi Delta, about 70% of farmland is irrigated, and furrow irrigation is the most common method, used on about 83% of those acres.

NEWTON, Miss. -- New and experienced cattle producers can learn about the latest research in grazing management and forage during a conference June 19-20.

Mississippi State University continues to keep seed and agricultural industry professionals up to date with the Seed and Agricultural Technology Short Course offered this year Aug. 5-6.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi’s first confirmed rabies case in a decade is a reminder that proper vaccination of domestic animals is helpful in preventing infection.

The Mississippi Board of Animal Health, or MBAH, announced May 6 that a bat in Tippah County tested positive for rabies, a fatal viral disease. Two potentially exposed puppies were quarantined.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Sheep and goat producers, researchers and industry professionals will convene at Mississippi State University June 13-14 for the sixth annual Small Ruminant Conference.

The two-day event, hosted by the MSU Extension Service and the MSU Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, highlights cutting-edge research and practical applications in small ruminant production.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Row crop producers who reported financial loss in 2024 may be eligible for economic assistance through a U.S. Department of Agriculture resource.

USDA’s Farm Service Agency has made $10 billion available through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, or ECAP, for growers to offset increased input costs and lower prices for their commodities.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Row crop growers in Mississippi expect to plant more corn in 2025 than they did last year, but not as much cotton or as many soybeans.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, released its annual prospective plantings report March 31. Surveys are conducted with farm operators nationwide during the first two weeks of March each year to collect data on which row crops they plan to plant and how many acres.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Entering this spring, beekeepers will be tasked with rebounding from the worst winter in over a decade for winter bee mortality.

A nonprofit organization, called Project Apis m., surveyed more than 700 U.S. commercial beekeepers and found they lost 62% of their colonies between July 2024 and February of this year.

Fruit production requires considerable effort, and some fruits require much more care than others -- facts specialists with the Mississippi State University Extension Service keep in mind as they provide research and information support to the industry.

MSU has ongoing blueberry research at the South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville and the Beaumont Horticultural Unit, and muscadine research at Beaumont and the McNeill Research Unit. MSU also has trials and research on blackberries, wine grapes, elderberries, passion fruit and strawberries.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Until an avian flu vaccine for chickens or other alternative is federally approved, commercial poultry operations in the U.S. will have to keep “stamping out” entire flocks with a confirmed case to prevent further exposure -- just like one in Noxubee County recently had to do.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Will Eubank’s new role as an assistant professor and Extension rice specialist at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center, or DREC, is a full-circle moment.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The American Relief Act of 2025 extended the 2018 Farm Bill’s benefits until September, providing agricultural producers $31 billion in economic aid. However, farm owners and operators are advocating for improvements as U.S. legislators draft the next Farm Bill.

In late February, producers representing a range of commodities testified before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee to share their concerns. The series, “Perspectives From the Field: Farmer and Rancher Views on the Agricultural Economy,” lent that forum to growers in all corners of the country.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- A statewide citrus quarantine was issued recently for Mississippi after one of the most serious citrus plant diseases in the world was detected in the state. Citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing or HLB, was confirmed earlier this year, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or USDA APHIS. There is no cure for the disease, which is caused by a bacterial infection spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, a gnat-sized insect. Infected trees die within a few years.

An ongoing challenge in farming is finding a way to manage weeds without creating populations that are chemical-resistant.

The scale of modern farming requires the careful use of chemicals as part of the overall management plan to harvest good yields and make a profit. Although an array of government agencies regulate and oversee the use of these chemicals, farmers themselves are among the most cautious with their use.

The Louisiana Red Crayfish goes by many names. Whether you call it a red swamp crawfish, Louisiana crawfish, Louisiana mudbug, or a crawdad, Procambarus clarkia is a striking invertebrate!  

Water management specialists with Mississippi State University have extensive advice for those implementing different irrigation techniques, but they all agree that using soil moisture sensors is the best way to irrigate.

VERONA, Miss. -- Each year, producers come to the North Mississippi Producer Advisory Council meeting to share their research and educational needs with agricultural faculty and specialists at Mississippi State University, and of all the commodity group sessions, the one on beef cattle usually has the highest attendance.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- A large group of agricultural producers and industry professionals met with Mississippi State University personnel during the 2025 Central Mississippi Producer Advisory Council meeting Feb. 18 in Raymond at the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center. The annual forum provides clients, MSU administrators, researchers, specialists and Extension agents an opportunity to meet in small commodity groups to discuss the research and educational needs of producers in the region.

As happens in every other industry, when costs rise and markets stay flat or decline, farmers look for ways to either cut costs or increase income.

At the Row Crop Short Course hosted in December by the Mississippi State University Extension Service, those in attendance heard about a double-cropping system not yet tried in Mississippi. One presenter gave research data on growing corn and then soybeans in South Carolina as a way to increase the annual income from the same acreage.