Central MS Research & Extension Center

10/15/2026

PEST MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS: This two-day short course is for you! Registration is open!

ONLINE REGISTRATION FOR TERMITE UNIVERSITY IS OPEN!
This two-day short course for Professionals (PMPs) will be held December 17-18, 2026, on the beautiful Mississippi State University campus. It is approved for credit in and credit is being applied for in the states of , , , and .
Register here: https://extension.msstate.edu/insects/termites/termite-university
Mississippi residents automatically receive a discounted rate, and participants from companies that are current Mississippi Pest Control Association-MPCA members can also receive an additional discount code for registration by request at: [email protected]

10/14/2026

Good luck to all our 4-H livestock exhibitors at this year's State Fair!

It’s State Fair time! Good luck to all of the exhibitors. Determination, drive and hard work goes into every show day. We are proud to offer these types of youth development opportunities through Mississippi 4-H!🍀

📸 Premier Livestock Imaging

10/13/2026

10/12/2026

Although Mississippi rice producers planted fewer acres this year than is typical, it was a good production year overall.

“Yield reports were positive for the majority of our fields,” said Will Eubank, rice specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “We had some outliers, of course. But compared to 2024 and 2025, which were pretty bad years for yields, we had a good year. It wasn’t great, but it was good.”

He estimated 90% to 95% of fields had been harvested as of Sept. 30. Producers planted 48,000 acres of rice, down about 70% from 2025’s 162,000 acres.

Producers experienced favorable weather during planting season, and about half of the state’s acreage was planted between March 15 and 20.

Then, a period of dry weather hit that affected germination.

“We got a lot of rice planted during that early window, but around early April, we had a month and a half of very dry weather that caused uneven germination,” said Eubank, who is stationed at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. “We were chasing moisture or waiting on a rain.”

Once growers began flooding fields, the uneven germination meant fields ended up with more mature rice in the lower parts of fields while rice in the upper parts were less developed.

“You almost had to manage two different crops early in the season,” Eubank said. “You had rice in one part of the field that was five to six days further along than in the other part of the field. The lack of rain also meant we had problems with herbicides.”

As producers entered mid-season, concerns about rice delphacid increased. Rice delphacid is an invasive pest that can cause yield loss and is a vector for rice hoja blanca virus. It was confirmed in Mississippi rice in 2025. Native to Central and South America, it was first found in the U.S. in Texas in 2015. Louisiana and Arkansas confirmed its presence in 2025, as well.

“We were really concerned about this pest this year,” Eubank said. “We stressed to everyone that we should be scouting and controlling early, before it got to be too big of an issue. But it never showed up. That was a big relief for our guys.

“We think it was that stretch of about a week and half to two weeks of freezing weather that we had early in the year that kept them from being a big problem. They don’t survive freezing temperatures very well. Louisiana also did not have an issue with them,” he said.

Late summer’s brutal temperatures impacted milling. High temperatures in the field can cause rice grains to develop poorly, primarily resulting in fissured kernels, leading to shattered grains during milling.

“We had a lot of triple-digit days, record-high days and high nighttime temperatures this year,” Eubank said.

Dry weather allowed harvest to begin without any issues.

“Harvest went fast but overall was underwhelming from a yield standpoint,” Eubank said. “Early harvested rice in mid-August performed extremely well. Issues started arising when storms with strong straight-line winds started knocking down a lot of rice fields, which slowed harvest time for many growers.

“These straight-line winds also brought with them rain showers. When we get rain this late in the season, it causes the rice grain to uptake moisture and reduces overall grain quality,” he said.

Will Maples, MSU Extension agricultural economist, said the drop in acreage follows the national trend, with rice acres falling 25% across the U.S.

Both export and domestic use projections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are down from 2025. Long-grain exports for 2026-2027 are estimated at 50 million hundredweight, down 7% from last year. Domestic use is projected at 117 million hundredweight, down 11% from last year.

Long-grain ending stocks are expected to fall nearly 50% to 21.4 million hundredweight. As a result, price projections by the USDA put the long-grain season-average farm price at $13.50 per hundredweight, up from $10.40 last year.

“Even at these higher prices, most Mississippi rice producers are looking at losses because input costs remain high. Diesel is up about $2.50 per gallon since last fall, and that hits rice especially hard because pumping water for flood irrigation is a major diesel expense,” Maples said.

10/09/2026

🚨 HIGH WILDFIRE RISK: PLEASE NO BURNING TOMORROW 🚨

🚨 HIGH WILDFIRE RISK: PLEASE NO BURNING TOMORROW 🚨

A critical combination of dry air, near-record high temperatures, and gusty winds driven by the outer flow of is creating a high-risk, significant fire potential across Mississippi starting Friday.

🚫 18 Counties Under Active Burn Bans: 18 counties across the state already have mandatory burn bans, and outdoor burning is strictly prohibited.
🪵 Critically Dry Fuels: Vegetation statewide is extremely dry and primed to burn rapidly.
💧Plummeting Humidity: Relative humidity (RH) will plummet into the 20s across most areas.
🍃Strong Winds: Gusts will reach 15–20 mph in the north and up to 20–35 mph closer to the coast, meaning any spark can instantly escalate into an uncontrollable wildfire.

Please do not burn! 🚫🔥Debris burning, fire pits, and open flames are dangerous and heavily restricted. Even outside of current ban zones, dry conditions mean one stray ember can travel up to half a mile and threaten homes, forests, and entire communities.

Please keep our communities and first responders safe. Postpone all outdoor burning until weather conditions improve! 🌲

10/09/2026

Why do horses need shoes? Dr. Clay Cavinder explains.

10/08/2026

The invasive tawny crazy ant was first identified in Mississippi in 2009, where it quickly became established in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Pearl River counties. This year, they spread to Wilkinson, Marion and Perry counties.

Joe MacGown, ant taxonomist with the Mississippi Entomological Museum housed at Mississippi State University, said these small, reddish-brown ants are native to South America and first arrived in the U.S. almost 100 years ago.

“According to Mississippi Entomological Museum records, the earliest known record from the U.S. was from Illinois in 1931, followed by records from Florida and Texas in the late 1930s,” said MacGown, who is also a researcher with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. “As with many invasive ant species, they went largely unnoticed until populations exploded in both Florida and Texas in the early 2000s.”

In 2009, tawny crazy ants were identified in Mississippi in Hancock County, and they quickly spread to Harrison, Jackson and Pearl River counties. During this same time period, they were reported in large numbers in coastal Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

“However, over the last 15 years, the spread of the tawny crazy ants seemed to have inexplicably halted until 2026,” MacGown said.

Santos Portugal, entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the ants were identified this year in Wilkinson, Marion and Perry counties.

“If you look at them closely, they are very hairy and have long antennae and long legs,” Portugal said. “They are called crazy ants for a reason, as they appear to run around like crazy more so than form defined trails like you see with a lot of ants.

“But without looking at them under a microscope, one of the biggest giveaways is the sheer number of them, often covering large areas and numbering in the hundreds of thousands or even millions. Once established in these massive numbers, the term ‘super colony’ can be used to talk about them,” he said.

Tawny crazy ants are known by different names, which can confuse people trying to find information about them, Portugal said. In Florida, they were called hairy crazy ants, and they are sometimes called Rasberry crazy ants, named for the pest management professional in Texas who found extremely high numbers of them in the 2000s.

Various researchers including MacGown compared specimens from different locations and determined that the ants were all the same species, Nylanderia fulva, and the approved common name of tawny crazy ant was given to the species.

“They don’t have large mounds like fire ants, and they tend to nest under things like rocks, fallen limbs, leaf litter or firewood,” Portugal said. “When the populations outside are high enough, they often spill indoors, where their presence becomes a significant nuisance.”

These are significant pests, but the good news is that they don’t sting and their bite is minimal. They tend not to hurt people, although there have been some concerns in the veterinary world because of their sheer numbers.

The ants frequently get into electrical equipment, where they can short out wiring and cause problems. Because of their significant numbers, once they are established in an area, it is unlikely that they will be completely eradicated.

“It is unlikely a homeowner will be able to manage large populations of these ants on their own, so it is important to stay on top of the problem by reaching out to a reputable pest management professional,” Portugal said.

Portugal said the ants had stayed confined to four Mississippi counties for years but spread this year to three more counties. He said pest management professionals in the coastal counties, as well as those in Louisiana and Texas, are reporting a much more active year than normal with these ants. No explanation for this sudden increase in activity has yet been determined.

The public is asked to help in efforts to control the tawny crazy ant by reporting suspicious ants. A physical specimen must be submitted to the MSU Extension Insect Identification Lab for official confirmation.

“Once MSU Extension officially confirms this species in a new Mississippi county, it allows pest management professionals to treat more extensively with a specific product, giving them another tool in their arsenal,” Portugal said.

Because of their numbers, treatment success is not measured by entirely eliminating the pest from the property.

“Success should be measured by the ability to keep them out of the house and other sensitive locations,” he said. “Even with an effective treatment by a pest management professional, follow-up treatment may still be needed. This is often not a once and done thing.”

You can find more info on submitting a sample to the MSU Extension Insect Identification Lab here: https://extension.msstate.edu/insects/insect-identification

10/07/2026

Consumers may be looking to purchase more locally raised beef despite a 90-day beef import policy enacted in August that reduced tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imported beef.

MSU Extension livestock economist Josh Maples said the announcement made by President Donald Trump was the second time this year that a tariff rate quota was adjusted to allow more foreign beef to enter the U.S. at a lower tariff. Argentina received an 80,000-metric-ton duty-free allowance in February. The recent announcement did not specify the countries from which the supply would originate.

“The 300,000 tons announced in August was allocated to countries without their own existing quota, which excludes Argentina and means the majority of the 300,000 tons probably comes from Brazil, plus maybe some from Paraguay and Nicaragua,” Maples said. “2026 was already going to be a record large year for beef imports, and this just adds to that."

Consumers can also purchase directly from local cattle producers, a practice MSU Extension beef cattle specialist Brandi Karisch said was already becoming increasingly common well before the August announcement.

“One area of the beef industry that I think was perhaps impacted in a positive way is producers who market beef directly to consumers,” Karisch said. “Because of all of the media discussion of foreign beef imports, many consumers are looking for more ways to better connect with local producers, and many are seeing an increased demand.”

MSU Extension food safety specialist Courtney Crist said checking for the voluntary “Product of USA,” “Made in the USA” or “U.S. Beef” labeling on beef products allows consumers who prefer to support domestic cattle ranchers to make more informed purchasing decisions.

While this specific country-of-origin label is voluntary, USDA-FSIS does require all commercial meat and meat products to bear the federal or state mark of inspection legend with an establishment plant number. Consumers can look up where the product was harvested or further processed online at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/inspection/establishments.

“American cattlemen produce beef under rigorous animal care, environmental and food safety expectations,” Crist said. “Country-of-origin labeling allows consumers to recognize and support that commitment.”

Under USDA rules that took effect in January, these voluntary claims may be used on single-ingredient beef only when the animal was born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.

“More specific claims, such as ‘Raised in the USA’ or ‘Slaughtered and Processed in the USA,’ should be read carefully because they describe only the production steps listed,” Crist said.

Read our full article here: https://extension.msstate.edu/news/feature-story/2026/timing-beef-import-expansion-affects-domestic-markets

10/06/2026

It's National 4-H Week! This organization offers a wide variety of learning opportunities for children and youth 5 to 19 and volunteer opportunities for adults.

10/05/2026