An irrigation workshop series hosted by the Almond Board of California (ABC) and UC Cooperative Extension will kick off April 20. The first edition of the Fundamentals of Irrigation Scheduling series will take place in Orland. ABC Senior Specialist of Industry Communications, Taylor Hillman said the purpose of the workshops is to provide actionable information to growers. A central topic of discussion will be evapotranspiration (ET) data and how to maximize its value for irrigation efficiency.
“Advisors are providing it there in the UC Cooperative Extension emails that go out. There’s a bunch of technology companies’ sensors that are providing ET data. And for a lot of growers, they don’t know what to do with that. I think that is fairly common,” said Hillman. “So being able to go to this event, figure out exactly what evapotranspiration is, how it’s calculated, what it means, and then have someone show you how to take that data and turn it into bettering your irrigation scheduling. I think that’s the real value here. Something that can help growers today for this season.”
The irrigation workshop will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Several UC Cooperative Extension personnel, as well as representatives from ABC will be among the speakers. Dr. Nall I. Moonilall from UC Davis will also be speaking on increasing infiltration for greater managed aquifer recharge. Both CCA and IA Continuing Education Units are available for the event.
“So, a lot of hands-on stuff there where growers can see what’s going on. But again, just a half day so growers can get in, get the education they need, and get out,” Hillman noted. “There will be several names on the agenda that growers are very familiar with. These are the experts. We want to make sure that we’re getting growers the best information out there. So, cohosting this with UC Cooperative Extension was a big deal for the Field Outreach team in this year’s series.”
Listen to Hillman’s interview below.
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