News Filed Under Crops

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Mississippi’s agriculture industry remains vibrant with an overall production value estimated at $9 billion, despite a drop in row crop prices.

VERONA, Miss. -- Current and prospective commercial vegetable growers can learn about specialized production methods during Mississippi State University’s 2025 Vegetable Short Course Feb. 25-26.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Mississippians who want to deck their holiday halls with a locally grown Christmas tree will have no problem finding one. Although weather conditions have tested the state’s growers over the last two years, tree inventory is strong.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- For agricultural producers, careful planning in advance of each planting is critical to making a profit or breaking even, but the practice will be especially necessary going into 2025 due to a confluence of unfavorable economic conditions.

Kevin Kim, Will Maples and Brian Mills, agricultural economists with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, are part of an effort to help producers make sound business decisions as they enter what will likely be a difficult year financially across the country for agriculture.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Despite another year of dry, hot conditions during the growing season, Mississippi’s sweet potato crop looks excellent overall as producers head into the final weeks of harvest. Lorin Harvey, sweet potato specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said 85% of the crop has been harvested as of Oct. 30. He has been surprised by the yields that many producers are seeing.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Mississippi’s peanut producers are close to wrapping up harvest for 2024. Producers planted 25,500 acres of peanuts, a 30% increase from last year. This year, growers returned between 4,000 and 5,000 acres to peanut production.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Agricultural producers and consultants are encouraged to register for the annual Mississippi State University Row Crop Short Course.

Hosted by the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, the 2024 Row Crop Short Course will be held Dec. 9-11 at the Mill Conference Center in Starkville.

Harvest for two of the state’s most significant row crops is well underway, with soybeans and cotton both ahead of schedule.
As of Oct. 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that cotton was 43% harvested, ahead of the five-year average of 31% complete by this date. Soybeans were 76% harvested, where typically the crop is just 60% harvested.

Corn and rice harvests wrapped up for Mississippi fields a bit ahead of schedule, helped by the ideal weather leading up to the harvest window.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated corn harvest was 96% complete by Sept. 22, 2024. This put harvest ahead of the five-year average, which typically has corn 89% harvested by that date.

Knowing that the severity of a drought is more than a measure of weather data, Mississippi State University Extension Service agents across the state gather photos and data weekly to document actual conditions.
Mike Brown, MSU professor of geosciences and state climatologist, helped develop and now oversees an app that allows him to submit detailed, highly localized information to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The Drought Monitor is a publication provided by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is the basis of much drought-relief efforts nationwide.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Hurricane Francine was reduced to a tropical storm by the time it reached Mississippi, and its rainfall and wind were not enough to cause major damage to the state’s cotton crop despite two-thirds of it having opened beforehand.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service estimated just under 70% of the cotton bolls around the state had opened as of Sept. 9, three days before Francine reached the state.

September is Rice Month! Did you know rice is one of Mississippi’s top ten agricultural commodities. 

This summer has not just felt hot and dry; close to half the state is in moderate to severe drought, and temperatures have been mostly in the 90s through all of August.
Mike Brown is the state climatologist and Mississippi State University professor of meteorology. He said much of the northern two-thirds of the state has been fluctuating between drought and being OK.

Potatoes, known for their versatility and flavor, are a staple in kitchens around the world. Many of the dishes we eat either contain potatoes or can easily be paired with a potato side dish. However, if you’ve ever stored potatoes in your kitchen, you might have noticed they sometimes develop sprouts. Do you know why this happens?

The growing season is wrapping up on Mississippi’s 2024 rice crop, and experts anticipate a slightly higher yield but depressed prices.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that rice harvest began the first week of August. As of Aug. 11, the crop was rated 15% in excellent condition and 82% in either fair or good condition.

CARRIERE, Miss. -- Muscadine producers can learn more about growing the specialty crop during an upcoming field day. The 2024 Muscadine Field Day will be held Aug. 29 at the Mississippi State University McNeill Research Unit in Carriere.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Producers got a behind-the-scenes look at the wide scope of agricultural research taking place at Mississippi State University in an Aug. 6 event.

Faculty and specialists with the MSU Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station presented on-farm research projects designed to help growers meet the challenges of row crop production.

MERIGOLD, Miss. -- Mississippi ranks among the top six states in rice production, and there is no better occasion to celebrate the industry’s success than Rice Fest.

This year’s festival will be held Sept. 19 in downtown Merigold from 4 to 9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Harvest will begin as soon as early August for soybeans, Mississippi’s largest row crop that is overall in good shape heading into the last weeks of its growing season.
Prices, however, are poor, with supply and demand working to push prices even lower.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Yield quality for Mississippi’s corn crop this year will largely hinge on which fields were irrigated and which ones were dry land.

“Corn crop condition varies considerably depending on whether it is grown in fields with supplemental irrigation or not,” said Erick Larson, grain crops specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “Mississippi corn dependent on rain has gone since early June without much appreciable rainfall, so the crop outlook has diminished considerably in that time.”