Alcorn participates in the Mississippi State Fair
“Alcorn State University is again taking an active part in the Mississippi State Fair that is being held at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds in Jackson, now through October 12,” said Dr. Franklin Chukwuma, coordinator for Off-Campus Centers and the event committee chair. “The School of Agriculture, Research, Extension and Applied Sciences (AREAS) has planned several activities to educate the Mississippians about sustainable agricultural practices, equip them with tools to lead healthy life styles and share about the services available through Alcorn’s Extension program.”
The Alcorn Extension Program’s country store outlet where the Extension employees and stakeholders sell fresh, locally grown produce to the public as well as goat cheese, shiitake mushrooms, syrup, jam, jelly and Alcorn memorabilia, is a crowd’s favorite.
Ralph Arrington, Central Mississippi agriculture educator for Alcorn Extension, said, “The main purpose of the country store is to assist producers to improve their marketing skills.”
To educate the public and promote new planting, processing and production techniques, a syrup processing and marketing demonstration is set up at the country store. The hopes are that this demonstration will help revive an industry of syrup processing from sorghum and sugar cane.
The Alcorn State Extension’s signature Health and Wellness “Power of 3” Program set up exhibits at the Trade Mart Building with displays and demonstrations on nutrition, physical fitness and community gardening. This exhibit is thought to help encourage the participants to grow fruits and vegetables economically, prepare them to keep the nutritional value and put together a balanced meal, and to promote physical fitness for positive life style changes.
Alcorn’s Department of Agriculture will share information about Alcorn’s academic programs and hold a recruitment session. Also, a series of workshops are planned including topics such as propagation of fruit crops, community gardening, breast cancer awareness, farm loans and more.
For more information on Alcorn’s participation in the Mississippi State Fair, contact Dr. Franklin Chukwuma at [email protected] or (601) 877-2321, or Ralph Arrington at [email protected] or 601-918-1526.
