Acres USA is a publishing house that is generally known as the voice of sustainable agriculture. They have published hundreds of publications on subjects ranging from agronomy to raising dairy cows. Fred Walters, the former publisher of Acres USA, shares stories with us about his father Chuck Walters who started the Acres USA monthly magazine and book publishing business. Acres USA is the voice of sustainable agriculture and has made famous many of the top agronomists in the business today like Dr. Willian Albrecht and our own co-founder Jerry Brunetti. This is a unique, fascinating, and entertaining conversation with one of the innovators in all of agronomy.

Our good friend Jerad Minnick is back to discuss the onslaught of a season they have had at the Maryland SoccerPlex. It’s July, and the weekend-long tournaments that started at the end of March haven’t stopped yet. Listen to some of the solutions that Jerad has devised to prepare the fields for such a busy schedule. This talk dives deep into agronomic solutions, but you’ll also love hearing about the Sports Turf Institute Apprenticeship program he has implemented at the SoccerPlex.

This week’s podcast features Kevin White, CSFM the University of Portland field manager. He brings a unique perspective to the sports turf world in that he manages both natural grass surfaces as well as an artificial turf baseball field. We discuss the management of both surfaces, including his annual fraise mowing practice on the world class soccer pitch as a means of weed control and what it takes to maintain safety standards on AstroTurf. His history ranges from golf course construction to a stint in the culinary industry and finally managing top quality sports turf. We even brought back the “lightning round” with some tough questions for our guest.

Travis Hogan has been in the turf business since the mid 1990’s both in golf and sports field management. We talk about the differences between golf course management and managing a sports complex at the highest level. Managing a complex for a Super Bowl Championship team is not without its challenges especially in an environment like Kansas City. Travis talks about how he juggles big concerts, Monster Jam football practice and games all on the same fields. He was one of the first to use Northbridge Bermuda grass on his fields and talks about his agronomic philosophy that keeps his fields some of the best in the NFL.

This is an excellent talk for anyone starting a new job! Our guest Louis Pitcock of the Avalon Golf Club in Cape May County, NJ talks about how he balances his expectations with that of his coworkers and bosses. Beyond that Louis and Jack have a great time reminiscing about their working relationship over the past dozen plus years.

A casual live chat with chemist Lawrence Mayhew giving an item-by-item breakdown of the macro and minor elements and their importance to plant growth. Lawrence Mayhew has been a fertility and humic acids specialist his entire career and we talk about what each element does for the plant and for the soil biological population. This may be a non-conventional take on a subject important to all turf and ornamental growers. When both the good and bad are discussed it is usually soil biology that benefits and that is what Lawrence has done on this podcast.

Tyler Bloom, Owner and President of Tyler Bloom Consulting returns to give us an update of the state of the work force for 2022. Tyler founded his consulting business at the beginning of the COVID pandemic to address concerns with work force issues in the turf industry. In today’s industry the single biggest conversation continues to be “how do we find qualified employees?”. Most golf courses and sports complexes report that they are about 40% down in staff and it is not getting any better. In addition, play is up substantially and golfers’ expectations are not changing much. Tyler’s company specializes in helping turf organizations find, hire and manage new employees to work in the industry. He shares his insights on how to manage new employee expectations and some ideas on what to expect as we move forward.

This week we talk soils with Bryant Mason the President of Soil Doctor Consulting. Bryant is one of the up-and-coming soil scientists in the agriculture industry. He works with vegetable and fruit growers and with cannabis growers helping to build soilless mixes. He is well known for his Instagram clips on various soil subjects ranging from water pH to mycorrhiza. We talk about how to build compost, about the value of the water-soluble paste extract, the importance of soil biology, and his observations from the field.

In this week’s EarthWorks podcast, we talk to Sean Reehoorn, golf course superintendent at Aldarra GC in Sammamish, Washington. The discussion ranges from agronomic challenges in his area, to his philosophy on building a team, to separating his work life from his family life. Sean is one of the younger superintendents that has struck a balance between delivering high quality results without sacrificing time with his young family. We also brought back the lightning round at the end. We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Golf is thriving at Lancaster Country Club and we’re on location talking with Josh Saunders! Learn how the shot-by-shot improvements to the golf course are primarily enhancing member play all while preparing a new championship layout for the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open. Check out Josh’s videos and drone content @LCCgrounds1900