The Almond Board of California has introduced a new online platform called the Almond Learning Hub, offering continuing education opportunities and resources for almond growers and industry professionals. Announced at the California Association of Pest Control Advisors Conference, the hub aims to make education and certification more accessible year-round.
“This is a free online site for growers, pest control advisors, certified crop advisors, and really all other almond industry professionals,” said Jenny Nicolaou, Associate Director of Industry Relations and Global Communications at the Almond Board. “We’re offering nearly 90 hours of continuing education credits again for free.”
The Almond Learning Hub features content across a broad range of subjects relevant to the almond industry, including pest management, biomass, irrigation, and food safety. Users can explore courses of varying lengths, with some providing essential overviews, such as “What is Whole Orchard Recycling?” or focusing on specific areas like soil health.
One of the hub’s key strengths is its flexible filtering options. Users can search for courses by their role—such as grower or pest control advisor—or by the orchard’s stage, like dormancy or harvest. There’s also the ability to revisit sessions from past Almond Conferences. “If you happen to miss a session at the Almond Conference… you have access to all the sessions offered at the Almond Conference,” Nicolaou explained.
The registration process requires users to sign in with Microsoft credentials, ensuring secure access to sensitive information like license numbers. For those without a Microsoft account, creating one is a straightforward step in the process.
Nicolaou emphasized the platform’s user-centric design. “We hosted listening sessions with growers and pest control advisors to make sure we were building the site with the end user in mind,” she said. As users complete courses, the system tracks their progress and provides certificates of completion to meet licensing requirements.
The Almond Learning Hub is now available at almondlearninghub.com. With this new tool, the Almond Board of California aims to support the industry by offering convenient, no-cost education to meet the growing demand for knowledge and certification.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.