| Wednesday, October 14, 2026 |
| Tawny crazy ants spread to 7 Mississippi counties | |
 | An invasive ant confirmed only in south Mississippi until this year has made moves into nearby counties, causing officials to urge people to be on the lookout for tawny crazy ants. Joe MacGown, ant taxonomist with the Mississippi Entomological Museum housed at Mississippi State University, said these small, reddish-brown ants are native to South America and first arrived in the U.S. almost 100 years ago. "According to Mississippi Entomological Museum records, the earliest known record from the U.S. was from Illinois in 1931, followed by records from Florida and Texas in the late 1930s," said MacGown, who is also a researcher with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. "As with many invasive ant species, they went largely unnoticed until populations exploded in both Florida and Texas in the early 2000s." Tawny crazy ants are known by different names, which can confuse people trying to find information about them, Santos Portugal, entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said. |
| Former USDA Senior Adviser Kelsey Barnes launches Cultivate Advisory | |
| Former USDA Senior Adviser Kelsey Barnes is launching Cultivate Advisory, a consulting firm providing government relations, political strategy and public relations services to clients in agriculture, energy and rural development. Barnes most recently served as a senior adviser to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. During her time at USDA, she helped develop and author the National Farm Security Action Plan, the Rural Veterinary Action Plan and the Great American Cotton Plan. She also worked on advancing the Trump administration's biofuels priorities. "Agriculture policy is moving faster and becoming more complex, from the farm bill to trade, biofuels, farm security, and rural investments," Barnes said in the announcement. She added that Cultivate Advisory will help clients respond to policy changes and develop strategies to influence policy outcomes. Barnes grew up in Tennessee on a diversified row-crop and cattle operation. She served in the Army National Guard and earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Mississippi State University. |
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