Production

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 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 »

• By Larry Steckel • Clearly, after all the struggles in 2019 controlling grass weeds, many are looking to change their weed management program. The most frequent question recently has been on the best preemergent options to more account for barnyardgrass, jungle rice and goosegrass. In an attempt to do a better job on grass, most have decided to move ... Read More »

Pathologists with Mississippi State University will be monitoring a relatively new plant disease in state cotton fields once the growing season is in full swing. Cotton leafroll dwarf virus, or CLRDV, was first reported in Alabama in 2017. It is closely related to a cotton virus known to occur in South America. Historically, that virus has caused up to 80% ... Read More »

• By Kay Ledbetter • As crop production plans are adapting to the declining water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer, cotton is playing an increasingly important role in water conservation. While relatively new to the northern Texas Panhandle, cotton has a role in the region’s water conservation plan, as many farmers are proactively adopting drought-tolerant crops to extend the life ... Read More »

Cotton leaf roll dwarf virus is now considered part of the environment, according to Alabama Extension specialists and Auburn University researchers. The same disease that was first recognized in 2017, damaged fields near the Gulf Coast in late 2018 and was widely detected throughout the state in 2019 will likely impact cotton crops in 2020. Most researchers agree: The symptoms ... Read More »

• By Denise Attaway • One thing many farmers know for certain is that nothing is certain right now. During the South Carolina Cotton Growers Meeting held in Santee recently, Clemson Extension Economist Nathan Smith told growers that despite stable demand for cotton worldwide, fluctuations in yields, prices and international trade have the potential to create stress for both producers ... Read More »