Arkansas Turfgrass – Julie Holt, Content Director, TheTurfZone.com

The Turf Zone: Welcome to The Turf Zone. In this episode of Arkansas Turfgrass, we’re talking to Mark Brown, ATA Board Member. Mark, thanks for joining us and thanks for agreeing to talk to us a little bit about your work in the turf industry. Let’s start with your position on the board. How long have you served?

Mark Brown: I am going into my third year now, just started my third year.

 

TTZ: In thinking about the association and what you guys do, what has been a big priority in your time on the board? I know there’s been a lot of education and event focus. What have you been most involved in and most proud of in that role?

MB: One of the big things that we’ve tried to do over the last few years, even maybe before I got on the board, just trying to carrying that on – we’re trying to grow the association here in the state. We’re not a huge state here in Arkansas. We have quite a few turfgrass professionals, golf course guys, and lawn care guys and sports fields. We’re just trying to get them, get more to come to our shows, to get actively involved. So we’re really trying to increase our numbers and just get more people active in the association so we can grow the association. So we’ve gotta let everybody know that the turfgrass association is a benefit to them, there’s a lot of things we can get out of it, so that’s what we’re trying to do, trying to grow awareness that we’re here and get more people active in the association.

 

TTZ: That involvement and that support seems important now more than ever, and we have to talk about the elephant in the room – a lot of our turf professionals are not working or working different capacities. What do you think is the general attitude among ATA members and professionals in general, even who are not members, in the state right now [during COVID restrictions] while we’re having to work so differently, especially in the spring?

MB: It’s definitely a change for them from what they’re accustomed to. I’ve talked to some of them and they’re really itching to get back out there and ger everything back to somewhat normal, but they understand some things are going to change. You know the turf industry is, not to say that it hasn’t really been affected, but it’s probably taken a little bit less of a hit than the other things. Still, it has its challenges of finding enough work, getting enough work for everyone. I do know a lot of the golf courses are busy, which is good, so they’ve got that going for them. But the lawn care guys, this thing kind of hit at a time of the year, where they’re starting to get rolling, especially now. So hopefully we’re past the biggest hurdle of this right now, so a lot of them are itching to get back to work.

 

TTZ: I’ve seen on social media some really good-looking sports fields out there, that it’s awful sad to see them empty.

MB: That is. You know you look at all the baseball fields and the complexes at the city and state level and the guys – it’s tough on them because they’ve worked so hard on them all through the fall last year and keeping them going during this winter. And with any overseeding that they may have done to get ready for spring sports, now we don’t have those spring sports. But you’ve still got to maintain them, so they’re trying their best to maintain them, they’re just not having people out there to enjoy them right now.

 

TTZ: Absolutely. Here’s hoping that we can get the kids back out on the field sometime soon. Let’s shift gears and talk about your career in turfgrass. How did you get interested or get started in the industry?

MB: I originally, I lived in Austin, Texas and was working down there. I wasn’t in the turf industry then, but I started playing golf, that was kind of the first time that I had started playing golf and I really liked it, so I said, “Well,