During its recent annual meeting in Starkville, Miss., the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association awarded its 2018 scholarships to two Mississippi State University students: Jackson Cowart, who graduated from Indianola Academy in 2017; and Brittany Lipsey, who graduated from Winston Academy in Louisville in 2010.

Brittany Lipsey

Brittany Lipsey, completed her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in the spring of 2015. Under her major professors Angus Catchot and Jeff Gore, she completed her masters degree in entomology and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree, also in entomology, at MSU.

Lipsey’s work experience includes working at the Winston County Co-op in 2010 as a sales/technological assistant and warehouse manager. The summer of 2011 she was a student worker at the Department of Plant and Soil Science under Mississippi Cotton Specialist Darrin Dodds, as well as from March 2013 to April 2015. From April 2015 to the present, Lipsey has been a graduate assistant under the direction of Extension Row Crop Entomologist Angus Catchot.

Lipsey is a member of academic and professional groups such as Entomology and Plant Pathology Club, Mississippi Entomological Association, Entomology Society of America, Mississippi Peanut Growers Association, as well as Mississippi’s Graduate Student representative of American Peanut Research and Education Society.

She has also received several academic awards and honors. In 2016 she received first place in Master’s Paper Competition for the Mid-South Association of Wheat and Feed Grain Scientists. She was awarded second place in Master’s Paper Competition at both the 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conference and 2017 Future of Agriculture. She has also received first place honors for PhD’s Paper Competition in 2018 for the Mississippi Entomological Association. Additionally, in 2018 Lipsey was awarded the Pat and Linda Harris Endowed Scholarship.

During Lipsey’s time as a master’s and PhD student, she has given numerous presentations and has published in several publications, including Influence of Temperature on the Efficacy of Foliar Insecticide Sprays Against Sugarcane Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Populations in Grain Sorghum,

Journal of Economic Entomology; Sugarcane Aphid Control with Falling Temperatures, Mississippi State University Extension; MSU sorghum research focuses on aphid control for Mississippi State University Extension and the Delta Farm Press.

Lipsey’s previous research has involved determining best management practices for sugarcane aphids in grain sorghum. Her research (1) evaluated the effects of planting date, variety, and seed treatments against sugarcane aphids, (2) evaluated the effects of plant population on aphid population densities, and (3) evaluated the effects of temperature on efficacy of sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone against sugarcane aphids in grain sorghum.

Currently she is working in Mississippi peanuts. Her objectives are to (1) setermine the complex of foliar feeding caterpillar pests across the state, (2) evaluate current defoliating caterpillar pest thresholds as well as creating thresholds for alternate sampling methods, (3) determine the impact of insect defoliation on peanut development and yield, and (4) determine the effects associated with insect pests transitioning from grass weeds to peanut during early peanut development.

After obtaining her PhD in entomology, Lipsey would like to pursue a career in academia and in peanuts.

Jackson Cowart

Jackson Cowart enrolled at MSU in the fall of 2017, and is a sophomore currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in agronomy.

In the summers of 2012 and 2013, Jackson worked for Mitchell Delta Distributing in Leland, Miss. He was charged with the management of 8 acres of grounds, and responsibilities included mowing, watering and fertilization of ground lawns, as well as maintenance of bushes, flowerbeds and walkways.

For the summers of 2014-2016, Cowart worked on Eureka Plantation in Indianola, Miss., under John Rodgers Brashier. He was involved in the production systems of soybeans, corn, and grain sorghum.

The summer of 2017 saw Cowart working at the Mississippi State Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Miss. He worked in the entomology department under the guidance of Jeff Gore, where he assisted graduate students in various research projects.

In the summer of 2018, Cowart began working for Miller Entomological Services, Inc., under current MACA member Tucker Miller from Drew, Miss. Cowart assisted in scouting cotton, soybeans, corn, sweet corn, grain sorghum, peanuts, vegetables, and pecan orchards.

Cowart’s awards include: Eagle Scout of Troop 4041 as well as being on MSU’s President’s List. He is a member of National Society of Collegiate Scholars Honor Society, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Indianola, the Delta Chi Chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and the Reclaimed Project’s fundraising team. He has also completed a Mission trip to Campamento, Olancho, Honduras.

After completing his degree, Cowart hopes to become a licensed agricultural consultant, as well as a MACA member.

Every year MACA awards up to two, $2,000 scholarships, to MSU students majoring in an agricultural discipline at the under-graduate, graduate or post-graduate level. The independent crop consultant association-sponsored scholarship program began in the early 1980s, and is designed to encourage and develop highly talented MSU students in agriculture.