Mississippi State Office

Welcome to NRCS in Mississippi!

Kurt Readus, State Conservationist

Mississippi NRCS, led by our State Conservationist and our State Leadership Team. 

Since 2013, Kurt Readus has served as the State Conservationist for Mississippi. Kurt was born and raised in North Alabama. He graduated from Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science. Kurt has twenty-five years of service with Natural Resources Conservation, beginning as a student trainee in Arizona and Alabama in 1998. After two years as a student trainee, Readus became a Soil Conservationist. In 2005, he was promoted to District Conservationist in the Avondale Field Office in Arizona. In 2007, he accepted the position of Area Conservationist for Central Mississippi. He guided twenty-one field offices and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) Tribal Field Office. He served as Assistant State Conservationist for Programs in Mississippi from January 2011 to September 2013. In September 2013, he became the State Conservationist for Mississippi. During his career with NRCS, he has served on various details, which include National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., as the Acting Deputy Chief for Science and Technology, Director of Financial Assistance Programs Division, National Conservation Stewardship Team, and Acting Deputy State Conservationist for California. He is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, Certificate of Mastery, Leadership for a Democratic Society August 2018, Leadership Mississippi Class of 2016, Mississippi Economic Council, M.B. Swayze Foundation, and the National Leadership Development Program, National Employee Development Center, Class of 2010. He is married to Dr. Fonda Readus and has five beautiful children to keep his heart and mind on the country's future.