MISSISSIPPI STATE – A three-day short course in December will provide information to Mississippi cotton, soybean and corn producers working to be successful in challenging years.

Registration for the Dec. 7-9 Row Crop Short Course is free until Nov. 20, and $40 a person after that. The event is hosted by Mississippi State University’s Extension Service and will be held on campus in the Bost Extension Center.

Agenda topics include emerging issues with red-banded stink bugs, new genetic traits in corn, controlling failed crop stands, weed resistance, soybean seeding rates, fertility issues in crop rotations, nitrogen management, nematode management, disease issues and grain storage.

Other workshops will offer hands-on learning on topics that include crop growth stages, crop and weed response to herbicides, and grain grading. Certified Crop Adviser continuing education credits will be available.

“This annual short course began in 1983 as a means to provide those involved in cotton production with the most up-to-date information possible,” said Darrin Dodds, event organizer and Extension cotton specialist. “With Mississippi growers’ increased crop diversification, we are expanding to include corn and soybeans in 2009.”

The program begins with lunch Dec. 7 and ends at 3 p.m. Dec. 9. Those preregistered will be served a free steak dinner Dec. 8 at the Starkville Country Club.

For more information, contact Dodds or Tammy Scott at (662) 325-2311. Register online at MSUcares.com.