The Virginia Tech Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center will hold an early-summer row crops tour during the morning of June 4 (registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the tour begins at 9 a.m.) at the Tidewater AREC Research Farm, 1045 Hare Road.

Specialists will display field research in progress and will present information for the 2015 crop season. Dr. David Langston, director, will provide introductory remarks. The speakers will include Maria Balota, Michael Flessner, Hunter Frame, Ames Herbert and Hillary Mehl of Virginia Tech, along with graduate students and research associates.

Topics will include nutrient management, pest management, and crop management for row crops including corn, cotton, peanut, sorghum and soybean. Robert Christian of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will conclude the tour with a review of legal aspects of pesticide use in Virginia.

Participants on the tour will be qualified for Certified Crop Adviser Continuing Education credits, and the Tidewater AREC is applying to offer Commercial Pesticide Applicator/Registered Technician Categories 1-A, 10, 60, and private applicator recertification credits.

All interested in commercial production of field crops are invited to attend. There is no preregistration and no fee for attending this tour.

The tour is set to run through lunch, courtesy of Berry Lewis with Bayer CropScience.

More information is available through local Virginia Cooperative Extension offices or by contacting the Tidewater AREC main office at 657-6450.