TURFGRASS RESEARCH: THE NEW FUNDING PARADIGM

By Stacie Zinn Roberts

Tucked away in a greenhouse, with only the buzz of an overhead light for company, a lone turfgrass researcher inspects a tray of tiny green progeny. Without the input of the industry that will eventually use or reject his new varietal release, this researcher could overlook the next great grass languishing unloved, unpropagated, undiscovered.

Tankfully, today’s turfgrass researchers do not work in isolation. Rather, they work in collaboration with sod producers and other industry members. Tey visit sod farms, get to know landscapers, and understand end-user needs.

Two new initiatives are designed to solidify the relationship between university researchers and sod producers, as well as guarantee the funding researchers need to make the next big discovery. Tese initiatives support the breeding programs at the University of Florida and at North Carolina State University, in collaboration with the turf producers associations in those states. Te programs are managed by the staff at Sod Solutions, a successful turfgrass licensing and marketing firm based in Mount Pleasant, SC.

Tese initiatives are doing more than just breeding grass and building relationships. Tey’re completely changing the paradigm for how turfgrass breeding programs are funded and administered. Tese changes could alter the way sod producers license, grow and market proprietary turfgrasses forever.

How it Began

“Te University of Florida (UF) approached us in 2010 to express a need for research dollars and proposed a partnership with Sod Solutions and the Turfgrass Producers of Florida (TPF),” says Christian Broucqsault, chief operating officer for Sod Solutions.

Christian Broucqsault is Chief Operating Officer for Sod Solutions.

After nearly two years of conversations and

planning, in May 2012, Turf Research Florida (TRF) was announced. TRF was created as a partnership between UF researchers and sod producers in Florida, who were also members of the TPF trade association. Te purpose of the new group, administered by Sod Solutions staff, was to create a long-term resource for turfgrass research funding. What

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Dr. Kevin Kenworthy examines one of his research plots at the University of Florida Plant Science Research & Education Unit.

made the group different than any other organization or group that might just stroke a check were two distinct elements: sod producer input during the research phase; and exclusive licensing rights to any varieties produced by the program limited to the growers who had helped fund their development.

Te first program launched under the initiative was a zoysiagrass breeding program through Dr. Kevin Kenworthy at UF’s Gainesville campus. TRF, Sod Solutions and 20 Florida sod producers promised to invest a total of $260,000 over six years to fund the development of a new zoysia variety.

Te hope was that a new zoysia might have some resistance to large patch disease, or show an improved response to drought or shade. Secondary objectives of the program were to develop a zoysiagrass with improved color retention in cooler temperatures, and responses to hunting billbug, fall armyworm or tropical sod webworm.

In 2015, a second group of Florida sod producers came together to fund Dr. Kenworthy’s research on St. Augustinegrass. Along with Sod Solutions, 26 Florida sod producers promised to invest a total of $126,000 over three years. Te goal is to produce a St. Augustine for Florida that could serve as a true replacement for what is now considered the standard—Floratam.

In January of 2016, Sod Solutions announced they had negotiated a similar funding structure for North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the turfgrass breeding program headed by Dr. Susana Milla-Lewis. Turf Research North Carolina (TRNC) was formed in conjunction with the North Carolina Sod Producers Association (NCSPA), and 16 producers signed

TPI Turf News September/October 2016