CO15 Turfgrass Science, Division C-5

The Div. C-5 business meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m., 12 Nov., 2002 by chair Karl Danneberger with 145 in attendance.  The minutes of the 2001 meeting were distributed via email, appeared in Crop Science and were posted on the C-5 website; they were approved as reported by Roch Gaussoin, division secretary.

ASA-CSSA Board Report, John Cisar. With the downturn in the economy endowment contributions etc. are also down. There is a moratorium on new publications which require CSSA support until the economy begins to show recovery. The executive vice president search resulted in 50 applications which were narrowed down to two for formal interviews. A decision is anticipated soon. There is currently a great deal of discussion concerning the annual meeting format and the ASA/CSSA/SSSA are reviewing results of the on-line survey to best accommodate membership needs in the meeting format. C-5 members were encouraged to fill out the on-line survey to insure our voice was heard.  It was also mentioned that C-5 members were glaringly absent from this years awards.

Historian Report, Karl Danneberger. The Historian report as prepared by Dr. Beard was distributed and approved with no additions or corrections.

NTEP Report, Kevin Morris.  Current Policy Committee members:D. Martin, G. Stahnke, T. Voigt, P. Landschoot (term expired-J. Murphy temp. replacement),  M. Kenna, C. Throssell, I. Thomas, L. Brilman, C. Edminster

3.  NTEP web site on CD - available later this fall.

4.  State web pages - sent memo, need information back from those states that have not returned.

1. Scott Warnke  new USDA hire, will be writing his research plan concentrating on germplasm improvement, turf genetics.

2.  Workshop on Dallas in January - researchers, industry, ARS administration  & scientists  During workshop - research needs were identified and voted on by participants

Top 5 broad categories:

  1. Water Issues

  2. Germplasm, Genetics, Genomics

  3.  Pest Management

  4. Environmental Issues

  5. Soil Issues

  6. Economic value and Impact

3.  Document 1 written - five page summary of the issues, ARS paper describing what was said by customers.

5.  Document 2 - Documentation of Priority Turf Research Needs - almost finished - expansion of Document 1 including problem statements, what is known, gaps in current research knowledge and goals- Six components - no priority order

I.  Turf Germplasm, Genetics,  Genomics II.  Soil Management for Turf III.  Turf Water Supply and Use IV.  Turf Pest Control and Mgt. V   Environmental Aspects of Turf IV.  Integrated Turf Mgt.

6.  Reps from several groups - USGA, GCSAA, NTEP, PLCAA, Irrigation Assoc., seed industry and university rep are working with ARS in developing this plan

7.  Now is Nat'l Turfgrass Res. Init.Will include a document for all to use with goals, outcomes, research and the amount of money needed.

8.  ARS will not fund - industry must lobby Congress for funding - Init will probably be $20 - $30 Million/year.

9.  Industry groups working with ARS on writing the initiative and an implementation plan if funded.

10.  Initiative will be partnership between ARS, industry and universities - significant amount of funding will most likely be directed to universities.

Data Collection Guidelines for Transgenic Crops, Virgil Meyer (APHIS). Teresa Gruber (CAST).  APHIS and CAST will meet to solicit input to determine guidelines following the Northeast Weed Science Society Meetings in Baltimore on 10-11 Jan. 2003 in Baltimore, MD. Further details will be sent to C-5 membership via email.

Committee Reports:

Special Symposia, Mike Richardson. Terms of four Committee members expired this year:  G. Stahnke, C. Mancino, M. Petrovic and R. Golembiewski .  Current Committee membership stands as follows, with the year following the name indicating the first year of three to work on the Symposium Committee:  Ali Harivandi (01); Greg Bell (01); Scott Ebdon (01); Mike Richardson (01); Phil Busey (02); Laurie Trenholm (02). Mike Richardson and Greg Bell were co-chairs of the Special Symposium for 2002. No report given because the Symposium had not yet occurred. L. Trenholm will serve as chair for 2003.

Extension, Bryan Unruh. The theme of the 2002 Extension Symposium was: A Regional Survey of the Changing Face of Turfgrass Extension. The program was held Sunday evening 10 Nov with 53 in attendance. The 2002 Chair was Bryan Unruh, with committee members; Matt Fagerness, Kevin Frank, Dave Han, Erik Ervin, Laurie Trenholm, and Brian Horgan. Suggested new members were Kelly Kopp, Clint Waltz. Matt Faggerness will chair in 2003. Theme for 2003 will be “Interaction of Turfgrass Extension Specialists with State Turf Foundations or Organizations”.

Evening Program, Mike Fidanza. The evening program was held on the morning of 11 Nov in conjunction with the Education Committee with 58 in attendance. The topic was “Moving Turfgrass Education into the 21st Century” presented by John Harwood and Al Turgeon  Committee members were Mike Fidanza, Al Turgeon, Ken Diesburg, Jeff Gregos, Wayne Kussow, Frank Rossi and Henry Wetzel. Persons with ideas for next year’s program should contact Mike Fidanza.

Education, Al Turgeon. Met on 12 Nov at 7:00am. Next year the committee will focus on more thorough and comprehensive web based education efforts, new technologies in education and active and collaborative teaching techniques..

Industry, Jamie Brueninger. Committte members; Jamie Brueninger Jim Frelich, Dean Mosdell, Chris Forth, Don Floyd and  Mark Mahady. Met twice in 2002 (17 Sept and 11 Nov) to develop Mission and Vision statements. Committee will be sending a survey to division members to determine if there is interest in asking ARPACS to create a new category (Certified Professional Turfgrass Specialist). The committee is also considering an Industry sponsored award for the graduate student paper presentations that will dovetail into the existing program and exploring a new approach to the Industry Evening Session. The Sunday evening roundtable discussion was attended by 32 people. Two presentations were made and there was considerable discussion and dialogue on the theme of “How to prepare turfgrass and crop science students for successful careers in industry”.

C-5 Web Site, Tom Fermanian. Address: http://c5turf.org. Committee members, T. Fermanian, R. Gaussoin, Z. Reicher, G. Stahnke and  D. Chalmers. Nearly 4,000 unique users in 2002 for more than a 100% increase in unique users from 2001 to 2002. Discussion about the site  and suggestions for improvement should be directed to any committee member.

Slide Monograph, Keith Karnok. Currently assigned authors should contact Keith Karnok and indicate if they wish to continue to be involved.

Contemporary Issues, Dave Williams. The committee, comprising Dave Williams (Chair), George Hamilton, Jr., James McCrimmon, John Stier and Darin Lickfeldt. Issues C-5 may wish to pursue were discussed at a meeting held 11 Nov , 2002 at 6:30am.

As a result of the meeting the Committee offers the following topics as issues that Division C-5 may wish to pursue. These items are prioritized as per committee consensus.

1. Research on genetically modified organisms or transgenic plants should be less commercially oriented. The Committee consensus was that because most current research is underwritten by commercial entities, and seems to be aimed solely at the eventual public release of transgenic plants, there is a perceived bias that results may be skewed to best serve commercial interests. As transgenic plants will have a very large impact on turfgrass culture and management, future research should be less involved with commercial entities, thereby reducing perceived biases. Most importantly, the Committee felt that it would be appropriate to offer a symposium on GMO research in turfgrass, thereby i) bringing the scientific community up to date on any, as of yet unpublished work; ii) defining areas of research needs; iii) proposing ways of removing bias from this work.

2.The USDA recently considered the establishment of Centers for Turfgrass Research. After much discussion, the Committee consensus was to suggest that the establishment of federally funded centers could often duplicate current research efforts of land-grant research personnel. Furthermore, the Committee suggests that Division C-5 consider a lobbying effort aimed at using the proposed funding for centers to support competitive research projects at the aforementioned institutions instead of establishing new research centers.

3.The Committee suggests that a national turfgrass survey would be useful in many ways. Understanding that such an undertaking would be very expensive and logistically challenging, the Committee proposed that Division C-5 consider what its role could and should be in either supporting or conducting a national turfgrass survey.

4. The Committee felt that it would be useful if Division C-5 offered a session during a future meeting addressing minority recruitment and retention in turfgrass science academic endeavors. This includes both faculty and students.

5. Division C-5 should consider ways to assist in providing sound, scientific data to those directly involved with the administration of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA).

6. The Education Committee may wish to investigate current job markets for both undergraduate and graduate degree candidates. In particular, the Committee was concerned that administrative advancement for 4-year graduates has or is becoming stagnant. Several incidents were noted where excellent 4-year students have searched for and found employment outside of their formal training to avoid advancement issues. The basic question may be if the B.S. level job market in turfgrass management is becoming saturated.

7. Division C-5 may wish to consider offering a session related to water issues in turfgrass management at a future meeting. There are several key issues concerning water use that would warrant this, including water quality, restricted water use, and use of effluent sources.

1^st Place, Mr. Brandon Horvath, Michigan State University ($250); 2^nd Place, Ms. Michelle DaCosta, Rutgers University ($150); 3^rd Place, Mr. Ryan Goss, University of Nebraska ($100); 3^rd Place, Mr. Joseph McElroy, North Carolina State University ($100).

A total of 11 posters were presented in the C-5 CSSA student poster competition with scores ranging from a low of 68.8 to a high of 87.2.  Cash awards for the top three places are as follows:

1^st Place, Ms. Pamela Sherratt, Ohio State University ($250); 2^nd Place, Ms. Michelle DaCosta, Rutgers University ($150); 3^rd Place, Mr. Siddhartha Narra, University of Illinois ($100).

Announcements & Acknowledgments

Third International Symposium on Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf, Milt Engelke. To be held in Dallas, TX , 18-21 May, 2003.

Turfgrass Tour, Jamie Brueninger, Zac Reicher. Details for the tour of the Dow AgroScience facility were given.

International Turfgrass Conference in Greece in 2003, Karl Danneberger. Discussion as to overlap or “competition” with ITS was brief and inconsequential.

Division Recognition Awards, Karl Danneberger, Gwen Stahnke. Commemorative pens were awarded to individuals assisting in various activities of C-5 in 2002. Outgoing CSSA/ASA board representative John Cisar and C-5 Secretary Roch Gaussoin were thanked for their help and dedication.

Passing of the Gavel. Karl Danneberger passed the “gavel” to incoming chair Gwen Stahnke

Comments and Adjournment, Gwen Stahnke. Dr. Stahnke requested any one interested in serving as Secretary for C-5 for 2003-2006 to contact her and expressed gratitude to Dr. Danneberger for an excellent year. It was moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.

Respectively submitted,
Roch Gaussoin
 C-5 Division Secretary