Feature Story from 2025

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Space heaters and fireplaces can help keep temperatures comfortable during cold weather. However, all types of heating equipment can be fire hazards if safety precautions are not taken. According to the National Fire Protection Association, home heating fires happen most often in December, January and February, accounting for almost half of all home heating fires.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A Mississippi State University Extension professor has been recognized for his contributions to wildlife conservation with the Clarence W. Watson Award.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- After harvest each year, university research and Extension entomologists from across the Cotton Belt states collect and submit data regarding cotton crop losses from insects.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi’s newest 4-H program truly is being built from the ground up.

Agents with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, which oversees the state’s 4-H youth development program, are holding interest meetings across the state to start county “Geo-Arch” clubs. The program targets young people with an interest in collecting Mississippi’s geological treasures and pre-historic artifacts such as fossils, arrowheads and rocks.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service will have a new soybean specialist in February.

Justin Calhoun, a soil and cropping systems specialist and assistant Extension professor in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is returning to MSU to serve the state’s soybean producers.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- An instructor with the Mississippi State University Extension Service was recently recognized by the Mississippi Public Health Association for her commitment to helping Mississippians live healthier lifestyles. Qula Madkin, a dietitian nutritionist in the MSU Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion, was awarded the Vonda A. Webb Nutritionist of the Year Award at the association’s fall conference.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Mississippi blueberry producers have two opportunities to learn more about production of the state’s largest fruit crop. The Mississippi State University Extension Service is hosting an in-person workshop in Hattiesburg and a virtual workshop.

PICAYUNE, Miss. -- The Crosby Arboretum has rescheduled its annual Forge Day to Feb. 8 due to expected inclement weather.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Remembering the “four P’s” of freeze safety -- people, pets, plants and pipes -- is an adage heard constantly this time of year, but doing so will be even more critical than normal during the week of Jan. 20-24 as temperatures are projected to dip below freezing and stay there for several days in Mississippi.

Caring for pets in prolonged cold weather will not involve many adjustments for owners of indoor pets, but protecting outside pets and livestock in these conditions requires extra attention.

Crop dusters are a familiar sight in the skies over agricultural regions, but much smaller versions, unmanned aerial vehicles, are joining them.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are commonly called drones. Unmanned aerial systems, known as UAS, include the vehicle itself, payload, operator and control modules.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Growers in south Mississippi recently shared their research and programming needs with Mississippi State University’s agricultural specialists, and producers in the state’s central and northern areas will soon have their turn.

The MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will host Producer Advisory Council meetings at three of their research and Extension centers across the state.

BILOXI, Miss. -- A large group of agricultural producers gathered at the 2025 Producer Advisory Council meeting Jan. 14 at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi. The annual meeting serves as a forum for agricultural producers to discuss their needs with Mississippi State University personnel, including administrators, researchers, specialists and Extension agents with the MSU Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and MSU Extension Service.