With the almond harvest now over, a University of California farm advisor and a UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management specialist will outline valuable planning tips for the 2012 season during a field day on Monday, Nov. 28.

The free event will be from 10 a.m. to noon at the Rushing Ranch, 11599 W. Shaw Ave., Fresno. UC IPM entomologist Walt Bentley will discuss sampling for scale and crop-damaging pests during the fall and winter. David Doll, the Merced County UC Cooperative Extension pomology farm advisor specializing in almonds, will cover dormant season practices to help prevent almond diseases and reduce the risk of fungicide resistance for the state’s leading export crop, worth $2.7 billion a year.

Sponsored by San Joaquin Sustainable Farming Project (SJSFP), the field day qualifies for  two hours of continuing education credit. For more information and directions contact Project Director Marcia Gibbs at (530) 370-5325 or at [email protected].

The sustainable farming project is a state- and federally funded program under the direction of the Sustainable Cotton Project (www.sustainablecotton.org), a nonprofit which has worked with San Joaquin Valley growers in the past decade to bring Cleaner Cotton™ to the multi-billion-dollar green consumer market.