PRESIDENT’S TURF The Origin Story
2024 TPI Board of Trustees
Officers Diane Mischel
In this seed and vegetative stock issue, updates are shared regarding grass cultivars. Maybe you put a lot of thought into choosing a new variety to plant or maybe you stick with what you know works well on your farm. We know that starting with good seed or stock is key to producing a quality product. In that same fashion, our company, association, and industry all started from something small but good, and with time and effort, they grew into success stories.
Hollywood loves to capitalize on the success of a story or character by revisiting their origin story. Tat is usually with prequels like Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III, or last summer’s “Te Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy. Another tale as old as time is reinventing classic fairy tales with a different spin and recently the trend is to put a new perspective on the “villain’s” origin story, like in Maleficent.
I am familiar with my farm’s origin story, but like any story passed down through generations, it changes according to the storyteller. My grandparents had a background as vegetable farmers and built a new home at a time when the American lawn was trending up. After World War II, factories were able to mass-produce lawn mowers and there was interest in selecting varieties suited for lawns in addition to the grasses produced for golf or forage. In 1947, the USGA Green Section and the USDA Crop Research Division tested and released the first improved cultivar of Kentucky bluegrass, ‘Merion.’
By 1955, when Leo talked with an acquaintance at the local grain elevator about buying grass seed for his new lawn, ‘Merion’ was just starting to be commercially available; but it came with a higher price tag than the prior common bluegrass varieties. Te salesman touted its desirable dark green color and compact growth habit. He sealed the deal by sharing an inside tip with Leo; he had a friend building a golf course that would need some quality sod the next year, and if Leo could grow this seed into a good sod product, he could easily make back the cost of the seed plus at a higher margin than vegetables. Well Leo did just that. He harvested his new front lawn and sold it for his first sod crop.
It is inspiring to revisit our origin story. We can use it to energize our staff and colleagues. Don’t be afraid to share the trials and tribulations as well because, just like in Hollywood, the story needs those conflicts to show how the characters grow and overcome those obstacles. Tose moments connect us and inspire us to stick it out when we also find ourselves facing challenges.
And keep planting seeds for the future. Yours faithfully,
President Diane Mischel DeBuck’s Sod Farm, Inc. – U.S.A. +1-810-653-2201
office@debucksodfarm.com
Vice President Daniel Huggett Columbus Turf Nursery – U.S.A. +1-740-983-6580
danielh@columbus-turf.com
Secretary-Treasurer Larry LeMay A-G Sod Farms, Inc. – U.S.A. +1-559-289-2302
llemay@agsod.com
Past President Bob McCurdy McCurdy Sod Farms – U.S.A. +1-731-692-3515
mccurdysodfarms@gmail.com
Executive Director Casey Reynolds, PhD Turfgrass Producers International – U.S.A. +1-847-649-5555
CReynolds@TurfgrassSod.org
Trustees Charles Harris Buy Sod – U.S.A. +1-910-992-6080
charris@buysod.com
Eric Hjort Tater Farms – U.S.A. +1-904-692-2246
eric_hjort@taterfarms.com
Albrecht Knigge Rasenland – Germany 495 101 915361
knigge@rasenland.de
Lindy Murff Murff Turf Farm, Inc. – U.S.A. +1-281-328-2812
lmurff@murffturf.com
Adam Russell MVP Genetics – U.S.A. +1-971-718-4525
arussell@mvpgenetics.com
Eric Webb Raft River Sod – U.S.A. +1-208-878-5740
eric@raftriversod.com
Wade Wilbur Sod Shop – U.S.A. +1-913-814-0044
wade@sodshops.com
DeBuck’s Sod Farm, Inc. 2 TPI Turf News July/August 2024
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