Agriculture
For 100 years, the Mississippi State University Extension Service has provided practical, research-based education to farmers and agri-business owners.
MSU Extension’s Agriculture and Natural Resources program supports the largest sector of Mississippi’s economy. Agriculture and forestry account for up to one-third of the state’s gross economic product, with a farm-gate value of more than $7 billion.
Our experts are scientists and educators who take university research and turn it into real-world education you can trust. Extension programs help the state’s food and fiber producers provide quality farm and forest commodities, safer food supplies, and new value-added products. In turn, Mississippians benefit from Extension education offered in all 82 counties.
Publications
News
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Entering this spring, beekeepers will be tasked with rebounding from the worst winter in over a decade for winter bee mortality.
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.
Success Stories
Fenton Pope looked around his native Covington County a quarter-century ago and saw what he believed was an alarming amount of farmland out of production.
Known around Cleveland, Mississippi as “The Rose Lady,” Jane Dunlap marked 30 years as a Master Gardener in 2024, but her home county lacked its own chapter for the first half of that span.
For J. W. “Bill” McKie (pronounced Mackey), working for the Mississippi State University Extension Service was more than just a job—solving agricultural problems for Mississippians was McKie’s calling.
