NERTF Virtual Conference March 2 & 3, 2021

By Ben Polimer, NERTF Board Member

NERTF promotes turfgrass research in New England with funding generated by industry members’ participation in the foundation’s annual conference. Research funding to date has surpassed $2.5 million. This year’s conference will be held virtually on March 2 & 3, 2021.

Tuesday, March 2 will offer 12 different seminars. Programs of special interest to sports turf managers include:

• Insecticides for Managing Turf Damaging Insects with Olga Kostromtska, Ph.D., UMass

• Leveraging your Budget for Decision Making & Growth with Art Goodhind, MCA, Town of Natick, MA

• Plant & Soil Supplements: Past, Present & Future with Cale Bigelow, Ph.D., Purdue University

Full Tuesday program available at https://www.nertf.org/ tuesday-education

Wednesday, March 3 will offer 4 tracts of education in two-hour sessions with two sessions in each tract. The sports turf management tract features:

• Sports Field Grub Management with Ben McGraw, Ph.D., Penn State University

• Sports Turf Diseases Strategies with Bruce Clarke, Ph.D., Rutgers University

• Keeping Your Team Safe with Bryan Unruh, Ph.D., University of Florida

• Wetting Agents on Sports Field with Nathaniel Mitkowski, Ph.D., URI

• Renovation of Rentschler Field with James Lappetito, Spectra by Comcast Spectacor

• Sports Turf Management Strategies when Pesticides are not an Option with Jason Henderson, Ph.D., UConn

• Tank Mixing for Sports Turf with Rick Fletcher, NUFARM

Full Wednesday program available at https://www.nertf.org/wednesday-program

While we’ll miss gathering in person this year, we encourage everyone to participate in NERTC 2021 via Zoom. My thanks to fellow NESTMA members Mary Owen and Mike Buras, CSFM, as well as the rest of the NERTF board and conference committee for their hard work in putting together an exciting virtual program. For more information and to register visit NERTF.org or call 401-848-0004. •