FOREWORD THINKING
Major initiatives set for launch at Melbourne 2022 conference
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lways a highlight on the industry calendar is the Australian Sports Turf Management Conference and Trade Exhibition which this year promises to be a truly outstanding event in Melbourne. From 20-23 June, the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA) will partner with Golf Management Australia (GMA) to bring together two leading events and combine education offerings and networking events into one blockbuster conference and trade exhibition. With a forecasted 2000 people set to attend over the four days, it presents sports turf managers with the ideal opportunity to further their education, network with peers and make new industry connections. Combining with Paul Vardy and his team at GMA, we have brought together a number of inspiring keynote speakers to share their experiences and learnings. They will complement the traditional golf, sportsfields and management streams and together will comprise over 180 hours of dedicated education relating to agronomy, leadership and management. It is very pleasing to see registrations at record levels and myself and the ASTMA and GMA teams look forward to welcoming everyone to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. More information on the conference is included in this edition of ATM (see pages 28-43). A feature of the annual conference is also the National Turf Industry Awards, where outstanding achievement in the profession is recognised at the awards dinner on Monday evening. This year the nominations received in each category have been of an extremely high calibre and has made the resultant judging a challenging prospect.
There has been some truly exceptional performances and achievements by sports turf managers and their teams in recent times and we look forward to recognising the best of the best. Acknowledging those who have excelled in their profession, as well as highlighting the next generation through the Graduate of the Year Award, the awards night promises to be a memorable event and a great way to kick off the week in Melbourne.
PRODUCTIVE TIMES The previous few months have seen the ASTMA team return to more ‘normal’ operations. The AGCSATech team, in particular, has been busy combining a large volume of consultancy assessments, workshops and presentations, along with managing existing and setting up various new research trials ahead of winter. We have also been visiting the flood impacted areas of New South Wales and Queensland and supporting several turf managers still undertaking remediation activities at their facilities several months on. Among the ongoing research work is the vegetative couchgrass trial at Sorrento Golf Club on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. The
Among AGCSATech’s ongoing research work is the vegetative couchgrass trial at Sorrento Golf Club
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AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 24.3
trial plots have come through summer well and regular assessments have continued. Wear will be applied to all plots over the next 12 months to assess wear tolerance and recovery. The trial will go into a dry down next summer with no supplemental irrigation for several months to gauge drought tolerance and recovery potential. AGCSATech’s Tim Fankhauser will be presenting an update on this trial work at the Melbourne conference. Elsewhere, we have also been engaged in supporting a number of state associations as they return to hosting a series of education and trade days over the past few months. This is a very positive sign for the industry as these events are critical to the ongoing education of turf managers and networking opportunities. At both a national and state level, memberships continue to experience strong growth over the past year. With the return of in-person events, I would strongly encourage all turf managers and the broader industry to support their state associations and make an effort to attend as many of the education days and networking opportunities as possible.
EXCITING INITIATIVES In conjunction with planning for the Melbourne conference, the ASTMA team has also been focussed on continuing work to deliver our Strategic Plan. We are in the process of finalising some significant announcements that will be launched at the upcoming conference. Work has been underway for some time on delivering several of the initiatives outlined in the association’s five-year Strategic Plan and we are truly excited about what lies ahead for members over the next 12-18 months. As mentioned previously in our communications to the industry, we are prioritising initiatives that promote education and development, address labour challenges that the industry is currently experiencing and continue delivering environmental management and sustainability programs. The conference will see the ASTMA announce the launch of two significant initiatives relating to these priority areas, following work we have completed with State and Territory governments over the past 12 months. Of particular focus in these areas, we will be launching several multi-year programs combing a range of short-term initiatives and continuous initiatives to drive outcomes relating to the level of support for attracting and retaining talent to the industry and delivery of education opportunities in the years ahead. For those unable to make the conference, we will be outlining these initiatives in more detail in the next edition of ATM. For those that can, I look forward to catching up with you.