Land use
The crop types monitored are Almond trees and winter wheat. Almond fields are usually tilled around 3-5 times a year with a chisel- or disc plough to remove annual grasses and herbs and facilitate infiltration. The distance between Almond trees is about 7 meters in continuous plantations. Under conventional farming operation, almonds are harvested in August - September after which they are pruned. Pruning residues are normally either burned or left on the fields. Almonds flower between February-March.
Under conventional farming practice winter wheat is sown in October which includes normally a tillage operation with a mouldboard plough. In February grains are greening, maturing in May and harvested in June. Crop residues are left on the field as mulch or for post harvest grazing by cattle until September, when the fields are ploughed again for seeding in November or left fallow for one year.
