The Partnership of NESTMA and NERTF

By Michael Buras, CSFM

Friend: You’re a sports turf manager?

Me: Yes

Friend: Cool! What have you been up to this winter? It must be a quiet part of the year.

Me: Actually, I have been quite busy getting ready for the upcoming season. An important part of my job is continuing education and the off season is the best opportunity to do this. Staying up to date with technology, laws, best management practices and in general — better ways to grow healthy grass while protecting the environment.

Friend: How do you do that? Turf management seems like such a narrow field.

Me: Well, there are lots of ways to learn — online, vendors, books, but the best way is by attending a turfgrass conference and trade show and here in New England we have one of the best!

In 1996 the seven New England golf course superintendent associations, New England Sports Turf Managers Association and Massachusetts Association of Lawn Care Providers got together and formed the New England Regional Turfgrass Foundation (NERTF). NERTF’s mission is to fund turfgrass research in New England and provide education for turf managers. They do this by hosting one of the largest regional turfgrass conferences in the nation. It has been held in Providence, RI since 1998.

Research: Through 2018, NERTF has donated $2,341,000 to turfgrass research at New England universities. $553,000 of this has been sports specific research along with many other projects that encompass the entire turf industry. Recently, much needed research on pesticide free athletic fields and pesticide exposure has been happening at The University of Connecticut, with NERTF investing over $150,000 on this since 2017. The NERTF funded research can be accessed many ways; the researchers present their findings at the NERTF conference, NERTF.org has links to the results, university web sites, NESTMA’s Blade magazine and the NERTF newsletter.

Funding: Where does the funding for the research come from? It comes from the turf conference profits, the conference auction and Tee-Up New England. Over 1600 turf managers attended the conference in 2019 plus over 300 booths at the trade show yields most of the money needed for the research. The balance comes from auctioning turf products at the show and Tee-Up New England. Tee-Up New England is an online auction of rounds of golf at over 100 northeast courses that are donated by superintendents.

Education: Experts on turf management from all over the world are featured at the NERTF conference. On the first day, in depth seminars are provided in two or four hour sessions. The next two days of sports turf education feature researchers, turfgrass professors and fellow sports turf managers speaking on current turf management issues.

The New England Regional Turfgrass Conference and Show is a wonderful resource for sports turf education. If you have any suggestions on speakers or topics you would like to hear about, please let me know and check out all the outstanding research that is being done right here in New England.

Michael Buras is Director of Grounds at Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, MA and serves as NESTMA’s representative to the NERTF board of directors. Contact him via email at mburas@longwoodcricket.com or phone 617-731-2900.