From the President’s Pen

A Great Year to Come

Hello again to all ATA members and Turf Times readers. Since my last President’s Pen, the ATA board had the pleasure of meeting and going over our agenda for the 2023 year. This meeting was very successful. In the recent past, we had a half day meeting followed by the Vendor Appreciation Skeet Shoot. This year, we decided to do things differently, so we went back to conducting our winter meeting as a board retreat. This allowed the Board to have more thoughtful, engaged discussion, with time to debate any of the topics covered. I felt that everyone had an opportunity to express their opinion about the things that were working for ATA and the things that needed some change. One event we decided to alter was the Vendor Appreciation Event. It will now be moved to a different time of the year that is not so close to the fall and winter holidays, so look for this date to be announced. During our board retreat, we also got to meet with our new board members; Lee Fillingim, Glenn Lucas and Blake Thaxton. We appreciate their willingness to serve and look forward to working with them this year and for years to come.

If you haven’t already, please check out our new and improved ATA website, Alabamaturf.org. It is very informative about our organization and gives vital details about upcoming events, a job board, turf industry information and links to our sponsors, ATA news, and digital copies to past issues of Alabama Turf Times. This website is going to be a great resource for you and your company. Thank you, Kayla Cook and Tricia Clem for revitalizing this necessary tool for our members.

I just want to commend all those responsible for once again making the ATA Road Shows a great success. We visited Loxley, Dothan, Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville. On behalf of the board and the entire association, I extend appreciation to all educators, speakers, vendors and attendees that made these events possible. I hope you had an opportunity to learn something new and gain continuing education points toward maintaining your pesticide license. Some of the other ATA events that are scheduled in the coming months are the Poa Annua Golf Tournament on April 17 at Inverness CC, Auburn University Turfgrass Research Field Day (date forthcoming) and the Lawn and Landscape Workshop on August 30 in Gardendale. Please don’t forget to sign up for these events so we can play golf, learn more about turfgrass research, gain some new landscape ideas, and most importantly fellowship together.

In this issue, be sure to check out the member spotlight article. We are honoring Beth Guertal, PhD., who has retired from Auburn University's Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, where she taught and conducted research in soil fertility and turfgrass management. She will be greatly missed by the turfgrass industry and specifically the ATA membership. The cover story deals with the topic of Labor Recruitment and Retention and is the last article in the four-part series titled “Looking to the Future: Where Will the Turfgrass Industry Be in Ten Years”. This series has been popular and ATA members should know that several of these articles have been reprinted by the Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia Turfgrass Associations. Also in this issue, the feature article written by Dr. Dave Han, tackles the use of “PGRs For Turfgrass to Reduce Maintenance Cost”, something that many of us may want to consider.

Finally, I wish everyone successful seasons, and God willing, a great year as we share our passion of the outdoors, favorable weather, and that lush green grass.

Ben Williams

2023 ATA President