President’s Message

Where did the year go? This year felt like one of the busiest years I have ever had. Winter is always classified as the off season in our industry. People always ask me what you do in the winter because the grass isn’t growing. They assume we are sitting around all winter waiting for the grass to start growing again. Not exactly what happens. My winter months or offseason seems to get busier every year. Always trying to get those projects done that will make the spring, summer, and fall season be more efficient and productive. With the growing staffing issues everyone is facing I would imagine that will be a hot topic at the trade shows and conferences this winter. How do we do more with less? That has been a slogan in the lawn care industry that I have used time and time again. With increasing technology in fertilizer, equipment, and computers is what I have used in my experience to do more with less.

It has been a very busy year with the MTF also. My busiest year compared to the last 6 I have been on the board. Coming off a year with dealing with covid we have increased attendance with Tees Times 4 Turf, Lafontaine golf outing and Field Day was amazing. Seeing everyone get back together is a great thing and is what our industry wants right now. We made a last-minute change to move the conference to the Soaring Eagle Conference Center & Casino in late summer to give us some better accommodations and it has been all positive feedback. We are looking forward to a great conference to bring everyone back together. Conference will be January 4,5, and 6, 2022. We look forward to seeing you there and look for more details in this issue of Newsnotes.

Another new communication tool we have brought back this year is the Newnotes Magazine. We will be publishing 2 issues a year with information on research from the turf team, current events coming, and past event recaps. It has been a great experience and I have enjoyed bringing it back to life.

The Joe Vargas Endowed Chair Position fundraiser is off and moving forward. If you want more information on this unique position, see the enclosed article in this issue. This is a very important piece to keeping our Turf program the best and will be a positive snowball from here. Watch for some big news coming soon on this from the MTF.

It has been a busy and great year here at the MTF and I want to thank everyone for this opportunity and look forward to continuing in the coming year.

Curt Boak

MTF President

Six professors are currently funded by the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation.

Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences

John N. Trey Rogers III, Ph.D.

rogersj@msu.edu Professor, Turfgrass Research - Golf Course Renovations - Sports Turf and Golf Turf Management Programs; Turfgrass Research Telephone: 517-353-0136

Joseph Vargas, Ph.D.

vargas@msu.edu Professor - Fungicide resistance; disease management; biological control; chemical control and breeding; epidemiology. Telephone: 517-353-9082

Thomas Nikolai, Ph.D.

nikolait@msu.edu Senior Turfgrass Academic Specialist - Golf Course Putting Green mechanical and cultural practices, turfgrass health. Telephone: 517-353-0133

Dr. David Gilstrap, Ph.D.

gilstrap@msu.edu Senior Academic Specialist Sports and Commercial Turf Management Education Telephone: 517-353-0140

Brian Horgan, Ph.D.

horgan@msu.edu Professor and Chairperson Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences

Kevin Frank, Ph.D.

frankk@msu.edu Professor and Turf Extension Specialist Telephone: 517-353-0147

Emily Merewitz-Holm, Ph.D.

merewitz@msu.edu Assistant Professor - Plant physiologist; abiotic & biotic stresses of turfgrass and crop species; whole-plant, biochemical, & molecular techniques. Telephone: 517-353-0203

David Smitley

smitley@msu.edu Professor Telephone: 517-355-3385