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History

Mississippi Foundation Seed Stocks (MFSS) was established in 1959 under the direction of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.  Previously, the respective plant breeders administrated foundation seed for each crop. 

Located on the campus of Mississippi State University at Starkville, and originally housed within the department of agronomy, MFSS originally produced seed of a wide array of crops, although somewhat sporadically. These crop species included corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, cowpeas, sorghum, alfalfa, clover, ryegrass, as well as various vegetable species.   During these early years, most seed production was either grown on the main farm at MSU or at one of its numerous branch station locations.  On occasion, contracted seed producers were utilized.     

Walker Guerry served as the first of seven managers of MFSS.   He was followed in service by Hunter Andrews, Bill Boyd, Kyle Rushing, Bob Munson, Bennie Keith, and Randy Vaughan (who is the present manager).    In 1974, a new building was constructed on the southwest side of the campus for the department of Seed Technology, which also provided needed space and modernized seed cleaning facilities for the growing MFSS program.  This remains the current location today.  At its peak production in the early 1980’s, MFSS supplied about 110,000 bushels of foundation seed each year of mostly soybeans, cotton, and rice.

Today MFSS continues to provide continued service to the certified seed industry by providing high quality foundations seed.  However, volumes have diminished, and production methods have changed from earlier years.  Currently all foundation seed kinds are now exclusively grown under contract for MFSS by private seed producers.