SUFFOLK—The Virginia Tech Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center at 1045 Hare Road in Suffolk will hold its pre-harvest field crop tour Thursday, Sept. 20.

Specialists will display field research in progress and present information for the 2012 harvest and 2013 planting seasons. Topics to be addressed will include cotton defoliation strategies, peanut variety and maturity assessment, soil fertility in cotton, and disease and insect management in cotton, peanut and soybeans.

Virginia private pesticide applicator certification credits will be available for participants.

Lunch will be served after the tour and updates will be presented from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. with the tour starting at 8. Pre-register by Sept. 7 by contacting Gail White at the Tidewater AREC 657-6450, ext. 430, or guwhite@vt.edu.