Turfgrass Research Funding 2025

Turfgrass Research Funding 2025

By Gary Sykes, Executive Director, NERTF, Inc.

2025 is a big year for turfgrass research here in New England and with the New England Regional Turfgrass Foundation (NERTF). We recently finished our 28th annual turfgrass conference and show and we are delighted to report that attendance was up, and we experienced a nice increase in sold booth space. The conference and show are what fuels our capability to invest in turfgrass research. The Live Auction and Tee-Up New England also bring in important revenue to help expand research opportunities.

In the New England area, we have three universities that can do active turfgrass research and educate the future generation of turfgrass professionals. Over these 28 years the NERTF has secured $2,787,000 in research funding. In 2025, the foundation, feeling a little behind on funding since Covid, decided to expand funding this year to cover all the research proposals that were submitted for 2025. This added $130,513.00 to an already committed $68,073.00 for funding this year. This boosted the total funding for 2025 to a total of $198,586.00. This will be our largest funding year in our history. One reason the foundation could commit to this amount was the generous donation of $10,000 from the RIGCSA to the foundation helping to underwrite a joint proposal written by Dr. Nathaniel Mitkowski (URI) and Dr. Geunhwa Jung (UMass) on the traits and identification of a possible new Dollar Spot pathogen.

Below is a chart of information on the current research funding for 2025

We are also delighted to tell you that currently the total funding toward turf research since 1998 is $2,942,826.00 and will be well over $3M when we total the figures in 2026! Our universities are a great resource for our industry here in the northeast. Our industrial community receives the benefits of diagnostic services, Extension Services, consultation, continuing education, formal opportunities for education resulting in interns and graduates. We have a great responsibility and need as an industry to keep our schools viable through research funding and education support. These schools will help to grow our industry today and as we look to the future.

The NERTF was formed in 1996 to bring together all the turfgrass industry in New England to support our turfgrass education and research programs at state universities and to encourage greater support to the turfgrass industry in New England as a whole. The foundation is proud to make two statements: 1) We are a Turfgrass Foundation that supports all types of turfgrass managers. 2) That the foundation is truly a regional organization designed to prioritize the turfgrass needs of all the New England and surrounding states here in the Northeast. Those needs might include turfgrass research, education, networking, consulting, etc. Our conference and trade show are the center of the turfgrass industry activities. Currently, the foundation is preparing for its 29th turfgrass conference and show to be at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence on March 3-5, 2026.

The foundation is governed by the following associations:

• Connecticut Association of Golf Course Superintendents (CAGCS)

• Golf Course Superintendents Association of Cape Cod (GCSACC)

• Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England (GCSANE)

• Maine Golf Course Superintendents Association (MGCSA)

• Massachusetts Association of Lawn Care Professionals (MALCP)

• New England Sports Field Management Association (NESFMA)

• New Hampshire Golf Course Superintendents Association (NHGCSA)

• Rhode Island Golf Course Superintendents Association (RIGCSA)

• Vermont Golf Course Superintendents Association (VtGCSA)

Editor’s Note: Members Mike Buras and Ben Polimer are NE-SFMA’s representatives to the NERTF board of directors. We appreciate their hard work on behalf of the sports field profession in New England.