TURF INDUSTRY NEWS HRI Launches New Fund in Honor of Craig Regelbrugge

Te Horticultural Research Institute (HRI) has announced a new endowed research fund, created in honor of Craig Regelbrugge, AmericanHort’s Senior Vice President of Industry Advocacy and Research. Regelbrugge celebrated his 25th year of service to the horticultural industry in 2016. “Craig advocates for horticulture every day. Now it’s our turn to be advocates for horticulture and honor Craig at the same time,” states Karl Losely (Herman Losely & Son, Inc., Perry, OH), HRI President. “In honor of Craig’s extraordinary contributions to the horticultural industry, a group of AmericanHort and HRI friends conceived of a plan to create a special HRI endowment fund in Craig’s name. In addition to providing needed funding for horticultural research, this fund allows us to publicly acknowledge our gratitude for Craig and the work he has so willingly and thoughtfully undertaken on our behalf.” The Craig Regelbrugge—Advocates for Horticulture Fund was officially launched at Cultivate’16 during the HRI Summer Donor Reception. Through the remarkable generosity of many donors, Craig’s fund quickly exceeded $35,000 in pledges. HRI leaders have set a goal to raise $52,000 by Craig’s November 52nd birthday. Donate online at www.HRIresearch.org, or by contacting Jennifer at 614-884-1155 or jenniferg@americanhort.org.

DWP Board Toughens Turf Replacement Rules

Te Board of Water and Power Commissioners Tuesday tightened up the criteria for granting turf removal rebates, under which synthetic turf and mulch will no longer be allowed, and more rainfall capture features and plant coverage will be required. Te Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) gives out $1.75 for each square foot of grass lawn that is removed. To be eligible for the incentive under the new rules, projects must: not include synthetic turf or mulch; feature rainfall capture elements such as infiltration and on-site storage for re-use; have landscaping in which native or climate-appropriate plants cover at least 50 percent of the converted area when mature; and, limit rock, gravel and decomposed granite to no more than 25 percent of the converted area. Te changes also include a recommendation for rebate recipients to use natural or organic weed barriers. Te rationale behind the plastic grass ban is that covering the land with plastic grass isn't much different

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from covering it with a plastic sheet when it comes to preventing much-needed rainwater from soaking into the ground. Plastic grass causes runoff, which literally sends water down the drain. DWP now focuses on getting rainwater into the ground, and planting plants that will use it wisely. Te limits on rocks, gravel, decomposed granite and plastic grass also minimizes the “heat island” effect, lowering surface temperature on a property by not capturing and storing the sun’s energy. Plastic turf also retains more heat than regular soil, and the elimination of these two heat retainers should also reduce the need for air conditioning.

Major Equipment Manufacturers Enhancing Grower's Ability to Use Precision Ag Data

A leading group of equipment manufacturers will soon release products that greatly enhance a grower's ability to manage data across different precision agriculture systems—regardless of the system manufacturer, thanks to AgGateway's ADAPT (Agricultural Data Application Programming Toolkit) conversion toolkit. "The open-source ADAPT framework is reported to remove the complexity of managing multiple data formats for farm management systems, helping software developers instead to focus on delivering value-added features for their agricultural customers. The framework maps multiple data formats into a common agriculture model created by experts from a broad range of companies and organizations within the agriculture industry. ADAPT and the accompanying data format enable the interoperability between software systems, service providers and advisors that farmers need to perform their routine operations more efficiently and seamlessly. Companies that have committed to using ADAPT and releasing plug-ins for many of their proprietary data formats currently include: AGCO Corporation, Ag Leader Technology, CLAAS, CNH Industrial, Deere & Company, Praxidyn, Raven Industries, Topcon Precision Agriculture, and Trimble Navigation. Te "plug-in" technology allows the ADAPT platform to work with individual, proprietary products.

TPI Turf News November/December 2016