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MISSISSIPPI STATE – Farmweek is
turning 28 years old this fall. As part of
the anniversary celebration, the television
program is now available each week
throughout North America on RFD-TV,
Rural America’s Most Important Network.
Farmweek is the weekly agriculture news program of the
Mississippi State University Extension Service. The television
program is produced by MSU’s Office of Agricultural
Communications. The first show aired October 3, 1977, on
what is now the Mississippi Public Broadcasting network. In
those early years, each week’s program was produced in Jackson,
Mississippi, at the M-P-B studios and then broadcast over the 8-
station network. Now Farmweek is produced each week at the
Mississippi State University Television Center on the campus in
Starkville, in northeast Mississippi.
“While the shows have advanced technically along with all
television production, the basic building blocks remain the
same,” said Artis Ford, Managing Editor and Farmweek co-
anchor.
“The format hasn’t changed much through the years, and topics
include traditional agriculture, land management, timber, wildlife
and fisheries, aquaculture, ag-related businesses and more,” Ford
said. Each week’s program includes a news segment, an episode
of Norman Winter’s Southern Gardening, a market segment, and
a feature segment. There is also a calendar segment informing
viewers of upcoming events, such as field days and Extension
short courses.
“The program originated as a link to the agricultural community
from the Extension Service, but it has since evolved to focus more
on providing laymen with a background in agriculture,” said
Leighton Spann, Farmweek co-anchor and market segment
producer. “We still try to provide a link to commercial farmers,
while trying to inform the general public of what is going on in
agriculture since it is such a major player in the Mississippi economy.” In addition to co-anchors Artis Ford and Leighton
Spann , feature reporter Brian Utley also helps produce the
program. The Southern Gardening segments feature Extension
horticulturist Norman Winter and are produced by Tyson Gair
and David Lack. “By far, the most popular part of the show is the
feature segment, which usually focuses on good land managers or
innovative people,” co-anchor Ford said. “Regardless of a person’s
ag background, these features appeal to everyone.”
Occasionally, Farmweek does deviate from its familiar format to
go on-the-road for special theme programs from major
agricultural events. Using the remote production truck and crew
of the University Television Center, Farmweek originated from
the 2003 Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition in Moultrie, Georgia.
Some of the other remote broadcasts have included the Beltwide
Cotton Conferences in New Orleans and Nashville, the Corn
Classic in Nashville, the Southern Soybean Conference in
Memphis, and the Catfish Farming Trade Show in Greenville,
Mississippi. Once, Farmweek even originated from the middle of
a Mississippi soybean field.
Farmweek is Mississippi’s oldest and only locally-produced
agricultural television program. It is a vehicle for Mississippi
State University specialists, scientists and researchers, as well as
specialists from other agencies, to use in presenting useful
information and land management advice directly to viewers.
This is usually done by showing viewers what other Mississippi
residents have accomplished. One gauge of the program’s
effectiveness is the fact that viewers often contact Farmweek
producers or the individuals involved in a story to find out how
they can implement the particular practice or program that was
demonstrated in a segment. Another gauge of Farmweek’s effectiveness and quality is the recognition the program regularly
receives from other professional communicators. Awards have
come from the Association for Communication Excellence in
Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences
(ACE), the College Public Relations Association of Mississippi,
the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters, and other
organizations. You can find Farmweek on the World Wide Web
at www.farmweek.msucares.com
Farmweek’s home – Mississippi - is one of the South’s most
geographically diverse states, encompassing the rich soils and flat
landscape of the Delta, the rolling, pine-covered hills of the
northern counties, and the sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast. The
state’s most important resource is its 2.8 million people, about
one-fourth of whom have jobs with ties to agriculture.
Mississippi is the nation’s number one catfish-producing state,
with sales totaling almost 400 million pounds in 2002. However,
Mississippi’s top crops in terms of value are poultry and forestry.
The state ranks number four in the nation in broiler production,
and is the 16th largest egg-producing state. As for forestry,
Mississippi is home to more than 5,000 professionally managed
Tree Farms, making it the nation’s number one Tree Farm state. Forests cover almost 19 million acres in Mississippi.
Mississippi’s four major row crops are cotton, soybeans, corn and
rice. The state is number three in the nation in cotton
production, with almost 2 million bales produced in 2002. And
Mississippi is number four among rice producing states, with
annual production of about 16 million hundredweight. The state
is home to almost 90 commercial sweetpotato operations, and
their product is nationally known for its quality. As for livestock,
Mississippi farms are home to more than 1 million beef and dairy
cattle and almost 300,000 hogs, as well as several thousand sheep,
goats, horses and other livestock.
Contact Information:
Farmweek
Phone : (662) 325-2262
Fax : (662) 325-1710
Mail : Farmweek, Box 9625
Mississippi State, MS 39762
www.farmweek.msucares.com
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