Out of Grass and Back Again
Tose acres had not been farmed for two years and were full of weeds. It took Daniel two years to get them cleaned up. Ten he put it all into sod and the market dropped. "We went from selling sod at 28 cents a square foot to 11 cents a square foot," says Daniel. “I planted part of my land in sod, but it cost me more than 11 cents a square foot to sell that crop.”
Te demand for sod grew during Covid as people stayed home and invested more in their outdoor living spaces.
When the sod market prices dropped below profitability, Daniel temporarily turned to row crops.
One of Daniel’s lessons learned is that row crop farming markets are usually inversely proportional. If the sod market was bad, the row crop market would be good. With corn prices moving from three dollars to eight dollars and soybeans from nine dollars to fifteen dollars, he had those acres custom-farmed.
Seeking to diversify more in 2008, he planted 11 acres of blueberries, a venture assisted by his daughter Sara. It was going well until damaged by the drift of a neighboring farmer spraying his crop that killed his blueberry plants. Ten winds destroyed the protective netting he had installed. Insurance replaced only a portion of that. “Ten Sara got married and moved to Florida,” says Daniel. “Tat was strike three. So I’m out of blueberries.”
Daniel says, “I didn’t plant much grass in 2009 and none in 2010, 2011, and 2012. My farm was row crops until 2013.” He started planting his original farm in grass in 2014 and transitioned the rest of the land out of row crops. “Now that I had ground of my own, I could risk putting it into grass with a reasonable expectation of harvesting it. With the land I owned and the additional 50 acres I leased, I had 435 acres in sod by 2015.”
In this family photo, Jameson’s parents, David and Cyndi Pietrowski, and Sara’s parents, Daniel and Jamie Huggett, join Sara, Jameson, and the young star of the group, Joseph.
24 TPI Turf News January/February 2025
Te sod market first appeared like it would take a hit at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic. Instead, the demand for sod skyrocketed as people spent more time at home and invested more in their outdoor living areas. Daniel steered his company through those fluctuations too, making adjustments as needed to maintain stability and make the best use of his assets.
Kids – Beyond College
After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and working as a Registered Nurse (RN), Sara took the additional steps to become a Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN). Tough she loved her patients, with her high level of compassion and empathy, working in that capacity was emotionally draining. She now uses her nursing skills working for doctors.
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