For the second year, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension will be offering online training courses in English and Spanish starting on May 30. The courses are to be geared towards helping grower staffs make better crop management decisions.
Each course runs for 4 weeks, costs $200 per participant, and includes a personalized certificate of completion. Each week there are two streaming video lessons, readings and assignments (about 3-4 hours total commitment per week), which can be accessed at any time of day. Bilingual PhD instructors can be accessed via text chat and discussion features. For more information, go to backpocketgrower.org under “training” and “online courses”.
The schedule of online courses planned for 2016 includes:
- Greenhouse 101; May 30 through June 24.
- Nutrient Management 1 (Intro); July 18 through Aug. 12.
- Nutrient Management 2 (Advanced); Aug. 22 through Sept. 16.
- Disease Management; Sept. 26 through Oct. 21.
- Weed Management; Oct. 24 through Nov. 18.
The first course, Greenhouse 101, is ideal for new employees, or employees with practical experience but lacking in formal horticulture training. Topics covered are plant parts and functions, photosynthesis and growth, greenhouse technology, flowering, compactness and branching, irrigation, nutrition, and plant health.
Nutrient Management 1, Disease Management and Weed Management are courses geared towards grower staff with some experience and training, or at the entry-university level.
Nutrient Management 2 is an advanced course for the experienced, well-trained grower, those at the upper-university level.
Photos courtesy of UF-IFAS.
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