The mississippi agricultural and forestry experiment station (mafes) uses its hatch capacity formula funds to support the creation of information through fundamental and applied research in the fields…

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Mississippi State University $2,654,231 under the Hatch Act formula grant program on October 1, 2025, supporting fundamental and applied research conducted by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES).

The funding supports creation of information through research in agriculture, food, natural resources, the natural environment, biotechnology advancements, and healthy communities. MAFES operates ten discipline-specific departments, several centers and institutes, and four regional research and extension centers located across the state (North Mississippi, Mississippi Delta Region, Central Mississippi, and Coastal Mississippi), each with satellite branch stations. The regional research hubs enable investigation of different commodities relative to soil types, climate, pest pressures, and regional interests, along with comparisons and optimizations of agricultural production enterprises and agronomic practices. Research supports four critical issues: enhancing the viability and sustainability of diverse agriculture to ensure food security, safety, and quality; growing vibrant, successful, and sustainable communities and businesses; strengthening and sustaining families to facilitate healthy outcomes and wellbeing; and sustaining natural resources and environment and promoting sustainable energy. Primary stakeholders include individual producers, industry partners, state and federal agencies, and regional and national strategic collaborators.

Place of performance is Mississippi, USA. The period of performance runs October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2027. The assistance type is a formula grant allocated under the statutory Hatch Act formula to eligible state agricultural experiment stations. Funds are expected to be fully expended in the fiscal year of appropriation; up to 100 percent may be carried over for up to one year after the end of the year for which they were appropriated.

The mississippi agricultural and forestry experiment station (mafes) uses its hatch capacity formula funds to support the creation of information through fundamental and applied research in the fields of science related to agriculture, food, natural resources, the natural environment, people, biotechnology advancements, and through supporting healthy communities. Our goal is to provide safe, nutritious, and accessible food and fiber products and processes for consumers, and to assure that businesses that comprise mississippi's agricultural industry have the information required to remain competitive in a global marketplace. Mafes has ten discipline-specific departments, research investments in several centers/ institutes, and four regional research and extension (r & e) centers located across the state (north MS, MS delta region, central MS, coastal MS) that serve as research hubs. Each r & e center also has satellite branch stations where scientists conduct research specific to each region and are part of coordinated statewide programs. The locations of these stations allow US to research different commodities relative to soil types, climate (e.g., coastal VS. Upper MS delta), pest pressures, and regional interests and challenges, as well as to perform needed comparisons and optimizations of salient agricultural production enterprises and agronomic practices. Our primary stakeholders include individual producers, industry partners, state and federal agencies, and other regional and national strategic collaborators. Mafes research supports four critical issues, shared with nifa: enhancing the viability and sustainability of diverse agriculture to ensure food security, safety, and quality; growing vibrant, successful, and sustainable communities and businesses; strengthening and sustaining families to facilitate healthy outcomes and wellbeing; and sustaining natural resources and environment and promoting sustainable energy. Increased production; best management practices; conservation; disease control, treatment, and prevention; technology development and many other targets are common elements of our research focus. Commodities currently being researched include animals (e.g., beef, dairy, swine, small ruminants, catfish and other aquaculture, poultry, seafood, and bees), row- and root-crops (e.g., cotton, soybeans, corn, rice, wheat, grain sorghum, peanuts, sweet potatoes), and horticulture crops (e.g., greenhouse vegetables and fruit/nut trees, turf grass, floriculture, ornamental nurseries). Research that involves the human sciences and human health (nutrition, health promotion, disease and illness), agricultural education and leadership, landscape design in agricultural or rural communities, and the interface between agricultural and environmental systems are also a focus of mafes initiatives within the state and regionally. Among anticipated research outcomes are increased plant and animal production or efficiency, greater conservation of water, soil, reduction of inputs to crop production/management, health impacts that contribute to enhanced quality of life, and innovative ideas and intellectual property that provides for economic gains on the part of our state constituents. This new knowledge will be disseminated via bulletins, publications, presentations, and via electronic media on websites and social media posts. Our goal is to produce cutting-edge research that enhances production practices to ensure resilient and economically viable agricultural enterprises for mississippi and the region