All About Sod

1) Tell me a little about yourself.. (history) where you grew up, family etc.. I grew up in Southeastern Wisconsin (Burlington) only about 30 minutes from the sod farm and am the oldest of 4. Burlington was a small town, under 10,000 people at that time, and my mom’s side of the family all grew up on the family dairy farm. Ultimately, with 10 of them, most of my Mom’s uncles went into the trades and her 2 aunts became nurses, only 1 currently lives on the no-longer operational dairy farm; they only grow row crops after the main barn burned down in the late 90’s. My dad’s family came from various different building trades, and although I didn’t spend time working on the farm, the combination of both of my parents’ relatives pushed me to have a good work ethic, the need to do something with my hands and a love for the outdoors. I went to school to be a physical education teacher and then received a masters of education with an emphasis in adventure and outdoor education; I’m still trying to figure out if it is my passion for the outdoors and/or education that helped me to get to where I am today on our 3rd generation sod farm. I met my wife, Dawn, going to the neighboring local high school with her cousins. We were married shortly after both graduating from college and now have 2 kids, Makenna (13) & Bennett (10). Dawn is a teacher at the elementary school she went to, and our kids now attend. She helps out on the farm for various things and our kids come help out whenever they can; my son would skip school any day if I let him to help out. I now help run the farm with Randy & Hilda Jasperson (father & mother-in-law), Mark Jasperson (brother -in-law), along with our 3035 full and part time employees.

2) How did you get involved in the Sod business? Through college, I started working on the sod farm for my wife’s parents. I initially started helping with our fall planting, driving truck for deliveries, and other smaller maintenance & repair projects during the summers and when my wife and I were back home during college breaks. 3) How long have you been involved in the sod business? I started the part time work during summers and school breaks in 2002; very small scale jobs. As my wife and I furthered our relationship, so grew the jobs and tasks that I would help out with on the farm. One of my bigger tasks the first couple years we were dating, was to help design the layout of the house office addition; helping to move the office from the basement to a more dedicated space. During this time and my classes in college, I also helped add technology advances to the farm. In 2014, the farm had grown in size and my in-laws were looking to hire more help to keep expanding. This is when I decided to leave teaching, among other reasons, and started working full time on their sod farm. Since then, my educational background and knowledge helped me update the farm website, incorporate more technology advances: software, truck routing/dispatching, efficiencies in field tracking, and ultimately helped our farm prepare for the unknown of 2020; being able to run our farm almost virtually. The advances we made allowed us to communicate with employees and customers without them knowing we were not even in the office, dispatch loads to drivers via tablets in our trucks, send invoices, collect payments, etc. It isn’t the way we liked doing business (not being face to face), but showed us we had the capabilities.

4) Why do you feel sod is so important? I not only feel that sod is important but all crops that are grown and harvested. The important part of any harvested crop is to educate the consumer and what they have chosen to purchase, much like when they go to the grocery store and knowing where their food comes from. There are municipalities that are banning sod because of the bad reputation that it has somewhere picked up along the way as being a high water and fertilizer user. There are many untold stories that aren’t being told: the creation of heat islands that are caused by removing natural grass with hard-scapes, the run off that isn’t filtered because sod isn’t in place, creating excess micro-plastics pollution by switching from natural

turf athletic field to synthetic. Previously when I would get asked about why someone should use sod instead of seed, my answer was that we do the work for you: you can be frustrated with seed selection, watering, reseeding, etc, or just let us handle that frustration by sodding: within a matter or hours you can have a new lawn that could take you up to a year to establish on your own. Today, I still try to use that but add to it by saying that sod is a living breathing plant, how can it be “bad” for the environment. Feel free to check out the other environmental benefits that sod offers: http://www.thelawninstitute.org/environmental-benefits/ (this link highlights many different benefits, but expands on the heat islands).

On top of these concerns; is the growing number of NFL players speaking out against plastic surface playing fields. There are studies that show a reduced rate of lower body injuries on natural grass surfaces vs artificial: https://www.turfgrasssod.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/TPINFL-Case-Study-FINAL.pdf (The studies are there but our industry as a whole is not sure how to get information to the public)

The fact that most people can’t take car tires to your local dump to dispose of, but there are companies grinding up tires, plastic bottles, old tennis shoes, etc. and putting them into school athletic fields is alarming. Do people really think the chemicals go away when these products get ground up and then are okay for our kids to play on? The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has confirmed 126 different chemicals in crumb rubber extracts from plastic artificial turf fields and 67 volatile organic targets were detected in field air samples.

5) There are many types of sod, what area do you work in, and educate us on the types you work with. Our farm is a cool-season farm offering Kentucky Bluegrass & Turf Type Tall Fescue. Generally, in the south where there are warm-season grasses, everything is grown by sprigs (cutting up the root mass and spreading it out) or leaving 2-4” ribbons when you harvest to let it grow back in. While most everything cool-season grass in the north is typically grown by seed; certain types can be sprigged also. The central band in the middle of the country, the transition zone, has a combination of both types of grasses. 8) Sod farming is highly under- valued and taken for granted, what are some challenges you have seen on sod farms? See number 7. Along with the challenge of educating consumers that no plant is guaranteed but there are procedures to follow with any living plant to help with success.

9) Have you seen the sod industry change over the years? If you have, what are some of the changes? Some of the biggest changes I have seen are the advances in varieties and the development of new variety genetics to help with disease pressure/resistance, establishment, growth traits, etc. There are breeding programs out there pushing seed to do better in all of these areas. Along with our general farm practices to manage our lands better, these improved varieties allow sod farmers to pass these advancements onto our customers. Every year the research continues to grow and the information for ways in which homeowners can maintain healthy lawn environments grows with that.

10) Why do you feel bringing awareness to sod is so important? As Drew Barrymore said “Your lawn is your new living room.” As we saw from Covid, the general public has a need to be outdoors and having a healthy lawn accomplishes more than just an outdoor space. No matter how small it is, your lawn is a living, breathing plant, contributing to the environment more than most people know, along with having a safe and beautiful place to gather outside of the home.

Seated is Mary Jane Jasperson (my wife’s grandma; her late husband, Vernon “Buster”, started the sod farm with his brother Lyle). Back Row: Left: Me, Ryan Menken, Center: Mark Jasperson, Right: Randy Jasperson

6) What are some things about sod that you think people would like to know that they may not know? Along with other agricultural industries, sod farmers try to be good stewards of the land. As we grow in our knowledge of farming we have incorporated minimum tillage practices, use improved varieties for drought tolerance, establishment, disease resistance, etc. I would further like consumers to start educating themselves on the environmental benefits of sod including carbon sequestration, oxygen production, reduced run-off, and how natural grass helps the ecosystem; along with the reduced stress of trying to seed a lawn themselves.

7) What are common misconceptions about sod? Sod is bad for the environment: see environmental benefits link above. It takes more water to sod: this simply isn’t true, if done at the right time of the year and after the first two weeks of establishment. The initial establishment is really only the time a “heavier” watering is needed to ensure root growth. Once established it will actually take less water. Sod requires a lot of chemicals: Actually, sod requires less chemicals because it should come weed and disease free. Establishing your own lawn from seed is a lot of work and often costs more than just the bag of seed you think you’ll get a lawn from: weed pressure from competing weed seed in the dirt, the vulnerability of seedlings to get disease when they are young is higher; both of these ultimately leading to higher water & chemical usage to get the same lawn as a sodded one.

NRCS Announces EQIP-CIC Sign-Up for Fiscal Year 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Texas is announcing the Fiscal Year 2023 funding signup for Conservation Incentive Contracts, a new option available through the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.

TEMPLE, Texas, — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Texas is announcing the Fiscal Year 2023 funding signup for Conservation Incentive Contracts (CIC), a new option available through the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP).

EQIP-CIC expands resource benefits for Texas producers through incentive conservation practices such as wildlife management, cover crops, nutrient management, conservation crop rotations, and prescribed grazing.

Additionally, EQIP-CIC allows producers to target priority resource concerns on their property by offering incentive payments for a five-year contract without needing to enroll the entire operation into the program. EQIP-CIC is designed to be a stepping-stone between EQIP and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), to help producers improve their level of conservation and earn benefits of longer-term conservation enhancements. year, interested producers should submit applications to their local NRCS office by Jan. 6, 2023, to be considered for the 2023 ranking funding period.

Texas NRCS will offer funding through two separate initiatives. A Piney Woods Restoration Initiative is available for applicants in East Texas to help restore declining Piney Woods Habitat. A Climate Smart Agriculture and Wildlife Initiative available statewide prioritizing applications that address wildlife habitat and climate smart agriculture practices as well as addressing resource concerns on expired Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands. Individuals interested in applying for the EQIP-CIC should contact their local NRCS conservationist as soon as possible.

Visit the Texas NRCS website for more details about EQIP or other technical and financial assistance available through NRCS conservation programs or contact your local USDA Service Center.

Fixed Price Acreage Contract

Market Price New Acreage Contract

Cash Bid

Seed Price

Seed Financing Seed Treatment

Replant Policy

Standard acreage contract with the commodity price fixed at the time the contract is signed. The best option to eliminate both production and market risk.

• Price and acres fixed at contracting • No volume guarantee • Producer agrees to sell 100% of production from a specified acreage at a fixed price • Standard Act of God Clauses

NEW

Acreage contract with a market price component. The Act of God clause protects against production risk and the flexible price enables the producer to take more control over the timing on when a price is set. When combined with the price boundary option, downside price risk is protected

• At producer’s option, price fixed anytime between planting & up to 2 weeks after harvest • Acres fixed at contracting • No volume guarantee • Producer agrees to sell 100% of production from a specified acreage at price to be determined • Standard Act of God Clauses • Price Boundary Option

NEW

Modeled after the traditional grain cash bid system, this provides the producer the most flexibility in how and when to market the crop.

• Price fixed in accordance with current bid • No acre guarantee • Volume fixed • Producer agrees to deliver fixed volume at fixed price in accordance with fixed delivery period • No Act of God Clause, but possible to extend delivery period or roll- over contract to following crop year for a fee to be determined

Planting Seed Programs

With Sesaco Marketing Agreement Open*

Untreated $400/bag $700/bag Treated $500/bag $800/bag

NEW

* Producer is free to market the resultant production for consumption. Seed use restrictions (https://sesaco.com/restrictions) remain in effect.

NEW

50% payment at the time of purchase with the balance carried to harvest & deducted from the settlement. Best in class seed protection featuring 4 combined treatments (Fortenza, Apron XL, Vibrance, and Maxim)

Seed purchased for qualified replant is 1/2 price

Retail food inflation is slowing, but USDA reports farm prices for fruits and vegetables still running hot

BY TOM KARST

Retail food inflation slowed in Octo ber but is still running up double digits compared with a year ago, a new USDA Food Price report says.

The agency also said farm-level prices for fresh fruits and vegetables are running even hotter. All food prices in October were 10.9% higher than in October 2021. Grocery food prices were 12.4% higher than October 2021 and the USDA said restaurant prices were up 8.6% compared with October 2021.

The 2022 calendar year inflation rate for all food is now projected from 9.5% to 10.5%, with grocery prices predicted to rise between 11% and 12% and restaurant food prices expected to increase between 7% and 8%.

In 2021, grocery prices increased 3.5% and restaurant prices rose 4.5%. Looking ahead to next year, the USDA said food prices are expected to grow more slowly but are still expected to increase at a rate above historical averages.

In 2023, all food prices are predicted to increase between 3% and 4%, with grocery prices expected up between 2.5% and 3.5% and restaurant prices predicted to increase between 4% and 5%. “The increases in all-food and food-at-home prices continued to slow in October and were the smallest of 2022,” the USDA’s Food Price report said. “The continuing increases in the Federal funds (interest) rate by the Federal Reserve place downward pressure on prices, and prices for unprocessed agricultural commodities have decreased each month since peaking in May 2022.”

Retail fresh fruits prices are now predicted to increase by 7.5% and 8.5% in 2022, while fresh vegetables prices are predicted to increase between 6% and 7%. Grower prices at the farm level were up significantly compared with a year ago, according to the USDA.

The USDA said farm-level fruit prices rose by 11.5% in October 2022, an increase of 34.5% from October last year. Farm-level vegetables prices jumped by 22.4% in October 2022, following a 15.7% increase in September, and were 45.8% higher than October 2021, the USDA said.

Farm-level fruit prices are now predicted to increase between 15.5% and 18.5% this year, while farm-level vegetables prices are now predicted to increase between 34% and 37%.