The 18th annual Desert Vegetable Crops Conference is scheduled for Nov. 27, 2007, at the Barbara Worth Resort, Holtville, Calif.

The workshop is free to growers and will cover a wide range of topics ranging from E. coli to pests and field solarization.

The University of California (UC) and University of Arizona (UA) are jointly organizing the conference. Eric Natwick, UC Cooperative Extension director, Imperial County, is the conference chairman.

Western Farm Press is the official conference sponsor.

Continuing education credit is pending for California and Arizona, plus CCA credit.

The tentative agenda includes:

7:30 - Registration

7:45 - Citrus - Glenn Wright, associate research scientist, UA Yuma Agricultural Center, Yuma, Ariz.;

8:00 - Refining solarization technology for desert agriculture - James Stapelton, IPM plant pathologist, UC Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier, Calif.

8:15 - Efficient, low cost sugarbeet production in the desert - Stephen Kaffka, Extension agronomist, UC Davis, Davis, Calif.;

8:45 - Aphids - John Palumbo, UA research scientist, Extension specialist, UA Yuma Agricultural Center; Yuma, Ariz.;

9:00 - Veg Disease? - Mike Matheron, UA Extension plant pathologist, professor, Yuma, Ariz.;

9:15 - Feedstock for Imperial bio-energy production - Juan Guerrero, area farm advisor, UC Desert and Extension Center, Holtville, Calif.;

9:30 - E. coli - Steven Koike, UC farm advisor, plant pathology, Monterey County;

9:45 - (Topic TBD) - Kurt Nolte, area agriculture associate agent, UA Cooperative Extension, Yuma County;

10:15 - Lettuce drop control in the Low Desert - Thomas Turini, vegetable crops farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension, Fresno County;

10:30 - Tolerance of vegetables to a new experimental herbicide - Milton McGiffen Jr., UC Cooperative Extension specialist, plant physiologist, Riverside, Calif.;

10:45 - Worms - Eric Natwick, Imperial County Extension director and entomology farm advisor, UC Desert and Extension Center, Holtville, Calif.;

11:00 - TYLCV - Robert Gilbertson, plant pathology professor, UC Davis; Davis, Calif.

11:15 - CYSDV - William Wintermantel, research plant pathologist, USDA-ARS, Salinas, Calif.;

11:30 - (Topic TBD) - Charles Sanchez, resident director and soil, water and environmental science professor, UA Yuma Agricultural Center, Yuma, Ariz.;

11:45 - (Topic TBD) - Jorge Fonseca, assistant specialist, professor, UA plant sciences department, Yuma, Ariz.;

12:00 - Phosphorus application practices on alfalfa and runoff water quality - Khaled Bali, irrigation/water management advisor, UC Desert and Extension Center, Holtville, Calif.; and

12:15 - Lunch courtesy of Western Farm Press and commercial suppliers.

For more information and to preregister, contact Natwick at etnatwick@ucdavis.edu, or Cary Blake, associate editor, Western Farm Press, at cblake@farmpress.com.