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• By Kay Ledbetter • Dr. Ben McKnight returned to familiar territory as he assumed the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide cotton specialist position, April 1. He is based at the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at College Station. Dr. Larry Redmon, associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader for the department, said the ... Read More »

Good rains last fall filled soil moisture profiles for much of the state and set up a good yield potential for Texas farmers, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Lubbock, said lines between areas with plenty of good soil moisture and those dealing with drought were distinct. Big rains in the ... Read More »

Weather always plays a role in the spring planting decisions of Mississippi row-crop producers, but the market impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is another variable they will have to consider in 2020. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Prospective Plantings report released March 31 estimates that growers intend to plant 4.06 million total acres of row crops in Mississippi this ... Read More »

• By Kay Ledbetter • Cotton acreage continues to boom in the Texas High Plains north of Interstate 40, more than doubling in the past five years. Whether that is due to water savings or projections for improved profitability, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists don’t foresee a slowdown in growth in the near future. Since 2013, there has been ... Read More »

•By Yangxuan Liu • Along with the life-and-death struggle and the rising cases of COVID-19, financial markets worldwide have lurched lower. The selloff of the U.S. stock market started Feb. 21. Since then, the great coronavirus crash has been frightening in its speed. Even U.S. Treasury bonds and gold, traditionally a safe harbor in times of crisis, have come under ... Read More »

• By Seshadri Ramkumar • Advanced textiles to apparel manufacturers are turning creative to support the fight against the invisible enemy. As the coronavirus is a novel strain, vaccines and medications are not yet readily available to treat the infected, meaning good hygiene practices will play a greater part in preventing its transmission. The textile sector has received greater attention ... Read More »

• By Whitney Crow, Angus Catchot, Jeff Gore and Don Cook • Not much has changed since last year in regards to thrips control via insecticide seed treatment. Thrips are considered the No. 1 pest of seedling cotton. Tobacco thrips are the species encountered more than 90% of the time in Mississippi. The probability of having a thrips infestation in ... Read More »