And Now By Susana Milla-Lewis


Covid-19 made the first year of our project a bit more interesting than expected! Safety measures and social distancing changed protocols and by mid-March most programs were in a lockdown. For breeders, propagation of materials and planting were delayed. For genomics teams, their labs were closed, and they were unable to generate new data. For the extension and outreach teams, cancellation of field days limited traditional summer educational activities. By fall, research operations were resumed with restrictions in place. Some states/ universities were more restrictive than others based on trending Covid-19 case numbers.


Despite these setbacks, we were able to attain the main project goals for year one. Tis can be attributed to good communication among team members, creativity to come up with contingency plans, and ultimately the team’s commitment to this project which we all believe will have a significant impact on the turfgrass industry.


As vaccination progresses in the next few months, we expect restrictions to be slowly lifted. Tis should allow us to have a more normal field season this year and hopefully to regain capacity for holding face-to-face extension meetings in the not-too-distant future.


NC State turfgrass research plots as captured by a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone).


Jennifer Howard is communications specialist for the Crop and Soil Sciences Department of North Carolina State University.


All photos courtesy of North Carolina State University.


TPI Turf News May/June 2021


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